2005/07/14 10.19am
Guanyin pavillon of Songpan (wikipedia page in English / official county website in Chinese)
Songpan / Sichuan / China

This poem came as a response to Dave from the Poet’s Place introduction on Landay/Tapa poems. The Afghan women approach on poetry, carrying harsh reality carved into verse mimicking wrinkles, reminded me of an old Qiang minority woman I once met on the hills surrounding Songpan during our first trip on our way to Jiuzhai Valley (featured here already). She was very surprised to meet Kwoa up there, away from the traditional touristic routes. We were unable to communicate since she could hardly speak any standard mandarin, so we just shared a time leap. A glimpse away from routine; a glimpse that could not really hide the polished anger oozing from her overall demeanor. Might have been an impression, but that’s the beauty of impromptu encounter, they leave a lot to the imagination.