Sounding Chinese at Inspiration Point

Nice spring day off big white cloud
At Inspiration Point escaping time wars
Poet takes book & wine bottle up into Mist Mountains

Since only available agenda is rhyming with silence
Seeking window of opportunity on a wall
I disguise what I have to say by sounding Chinese

Such as stars are now darker and farther away
They take deeper drinks because space is
Drying out afraid to think own thoughts

Administered citizen achieving condition of robot
In public mind things not so good these days
Nor in wrong run will it matter to Tu Fu

Copyright Credit: Tom Clark, “Sounding Chinese at Inspiration Point” from Light and Shade: New and Selected Poems. Copyright � 2006 by Tom Clark. Used with the permission of Coffee House Press, www.coffeehousepress.org.
Source: Sleepwalker (1992)