Sichuan New Year
It was the new year celebrations as the rumours went around
That seats to Sichuan were selling fast.
Queues at stations were pushed to the brim and spaces had to be found.
All workers had gathered to the task.
They left from Shenzhen and factory towns far and wide
While locals watched them go with distain
They were leaving smoke fill skies and areas devastated of pride
As they jostled for their train.
These ‘up-country’ people never called Guangdong a home
(Anyway, they weren’t allowed)
They had the cold crisp cover of the Sichuan sky as a dome
Their fiery food made them proud.
There was Chang from Neijiang who was at a workshop making keys
And old Li from Zigong where dinosaurs roam
And the couple Miao looked forward to seeing their babies
On leave from filling fridges full of foam.
Emptied hill and valley villages where only the old tilled the soil
Made preparations as they returned.
Mud walls were repaired and clothes and linen put to boil
Ancestral graves cleared and offerings burned.
The ranges run east to Chongqing and then the three gorges dam
And in the west is sacred Emei Shan
Where now ‘pilgrims’ snowboard down, captured on web-cam
Eight hours from the town Quan’an
As residents returned, this market town prepared for festive fun.
Amidst the screech from a three wheel van,
Mr. Cao greeted his family and saw his long neglected son
His small one was now a young man.
A tall girl with LV bag and Gucci heels worked in Shanghai
Her service sold for quality brands
So happy to be back home she stopped to greet a passer-by
Omega flashed as she moved her hands.
The farmers brought produce in from surrounding miles
Selling greens, and fish and pigs well fed
Cacophony of the crowd and click-clacking of mah-jong tiles
To the ducks din while into the buckets they bled.
In a sunny spot, a seated woman was making century old eggs
The megaphones were blaring
A nearby table they were plucking feathers from legs
And proud mothers were comparing.
[...] Read more
poem by Roy Lee
Added by Poetry Lover
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