"Antikva Kredulo"

1.
mi blinde
shadow formed
by forms that seem to contain shadow
in the rain shadow
i pitch my hammock

2.
my child dark, my snow, my air
Ialtera TocKa as a call
ngoHwI' solacing
on a/ light

meet me driving the other way · on the straight small
small street · with cars on both sides
cubewano winter
golden morning gazing
driving in drugged Baghdad
Druze ally a lion
a rude gray arroyo
multiple car pileup
and carpal zing tumult
spirit like rain
turning
and the shrub's shadow feels

snow bloomless gold
from chi Sagittarii
chilly after sleep


"Thirteen Poems from My Southern Garden

6
Seeking a style, culling my phrases,
Grown old carving grubs!
At dawn the moon hangs in my blinds,
A bow of jade.
Can't you see what is going on, year after year,
By the sea of Liao-dong?
Whatever can a writer do
But weep in the autumn wind?"

--Goddesses, Ghosts, and Demons: The Collected Poems of Li He (tr J D Frodsham, 1988)

The Niche for Lights. (Not to be confused with The Bezels of Wisdom.)