by Iain Maloney

China:
A Sequence

even in Shanghai
the tang of single malt
on the winter wind
cumin and pepper
we break bread

fall leaves on the Great Wall
no sound but history

in the shadow of the peace memorial
he plucks a dove

after the Maoist rhetoric
the doorman’s ‘Merry Christmas’

New Year in Beijing
beneath red flags
black Audis run the lights

I say Tsing Tao
you say Ching Dao
let’s call the whole thing off
New Year’s Day
we skate over
carp frozen in ice

snow falls on Tiananmen Square
‘In China spring comes soon’.

Note on Author’s other work apart from China – A Sequence that can be found in Eastlit:

Iain Maloney’s Hitoshi and the Orange Peel Mystery, which is an extract from the novel Dog Mountain can be found in the February 2013 issue of Eastlit.