Cerebration

FICKLE SOUL IN SUZHOU: BIRGIT LINDER

Birgit Linder grew up in Germany, and lived many years in the USA and Asia. Presently, she lives in Hong Kong. She is a specialist in Chinese literature and cultural studies, and works for an Asian higher education NGO. She travels a lot in Asia. Birgit has published poetry in Mad Poets, Clockwise Cat, and other journals. She also has other academic publications in the fields of Chinese and comparative literature, comparative poetry, cultural studies, classical Chinese literature, cultural geography, and gender and literature. Her research and writing focus is on cross-cultural concepts and representations of madness and mental illness in Chinese and Western culture and literature.

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in Hanshan Temple
tranquility hovers
in Buddhist halls
guqin and xiao
faintly fill the air
with elegant tunes.

from behind
precious tripod cauldron
I watch your gaze
fields of dream
paint landscapes
by misty rivers?

nothingness
replete with sighs
echoes through immortal daze
a bell reminds
to ponder your fate
in scarlet robes.


supplication
murmured in trance
veils your face
when you wake
you are as before
floating yet unmoved.

now behind the marble pillar
I toss a wolfberry
aimed at you
your sudden smile
betrays a soul
east of nirvana still?

Toss it back, toss it back . . .




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