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LONGHUA TEMPLE
being chewed by the crocodile structured the eve of this poem
in dreams the terrifyingly real    temple court-
yard    at the water’s edge on the mountain peak
only if the hand’s lotus still opens like that day petal by petal
emptiness    our arrival half plum half blood
needs only the cold of a vow to stay
in the incense burner    the fragmentary life of a camera
twisted moss twists the stone’s eyeball again

the eve of finding this poem
skeleton hugging skeleton    strolls behind the silence of the bells
the direction of our surmise settled in a bud
plums drift down to blend with perfumed blood
bloodstains leak out from behind the knee    from numbers one
                                                                                              [to seven again
only to believe what comes back    enjoying in memory
flashbulbs    periscoping the newly-formed flesh
we vaguely remember the pleasure of sex with crocodiles was
                                                                                               [lovely and sore
 
 
 
 

Translator's Note: Longhua Temple: Tr. Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province