Landscapes, by He Weipu (1844-1925). Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
*****
Underneath this day, another
The way morning – shang –
sits on top of afternoon
What is past is
what we see –
Speculation as to how long this war will last.
Con Cater says 3 months. Ethel Taylor says 12 months.
I say three years.
The pages fill. Each day a blank.
*****
Then, my stomach –
moldy flour,
wanting news from home, and
a body is what we bring,
what we offer. I’ve taken a strange
language into my mouth but
press gangs busy taking Chinese off streets is what
this hand writes,
records
****
Samuel Johnson said, no detail too small
Mending and tea and washing
everything on days with
blessed hot water
Christmas letters written,
then destroyed
Black houses and
streets
One day, only this –
Something to remember
Betty’s face, when she came in
with the red rose
*The above poems are based on the diary of an American missionary and teacher who lived in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of that city before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.
Genevieve Leone’s poems have recently appeared in The Curator and Right Hand Pointing. She lives and teaches in Shanghai, China.
