We toured sixteen hospitals
interrupts peaceful digestion.
~~ Other People's Fingerprints ~~
Sometime after 1741 Sebastien Roch Nicolas Chamfort wrote,
“All passions exaggerate:
It is only because they exaggerate
that they are passions...”
in three weeks in six cities
and the countryside in China.
We ate with countless local politicians,
sang songs,
toasted peace, shook hands,
hugged bodies, kissed cheeks,
danced with doctors
and talked with their women patients.
We watched
acupunctured elderly get needled,
acupunctured elderly get needled,
translated surgical operations,
visited children's wards,
and tickled babies
being massaged by mothers
in prenatal
corporate American sponsored classes.
being massaged by mothers
in prenatal
corporate American sponsored classes.
We chatted with Taoist monks
in Daoism oaths of silence
in Daoism oaths of silence
living remote
in high ridge
forested
mountain temples.
in high ridge
forested
mountain temples.
I swear the man
who sold barbequed meat tacos and oranges
who sold barbequed meat tacos and oranges
outside the Chinese consulate
in downtown Los Angeles -
in downtown Los Angeles -
is the same man
who sold barbequed meat and oranges
outside the Taoist Temple
in upcountry northern China.
who sold barbequed meat and oranges
outside the Taoist Temple
in upcountry northern China.
They both wore Nikes,
drank Coca-Cola,
and pulled at their baseball caps
drank Coca-Cola,
and pulled at their baseball caps
while wiping their hands
on their tee-shirts that read;
on their tee-shirts that read;
“I’ve walked the Great Wall of China
and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”.
and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”.
Vans shuttle international tourists
to buy domestic
to buy domestic
souvenir coins, statues, beads,
prayer books and carved good fortune
prayer books and carved good fortune
in the form of the Buddha.
Vans shuttle domestic tourists
to buy international
food, water, clothing and foot wear.
Vans shuttle domestic tourists
to buy international
food, water, clothing and foot wear.
While all of us from wherever we came from
stand around tossing wishes
embossed on coins winged into a fountain.
stand around tossing wishes
embossed on coins winged into a fountain.
I think of the Dalai Lama
whose lectures I attended in Hollywood -
whose lectures I attended in Hollywood -
He laughed at the world,
with the world, its state, us,
and how seriously we take everything,
including him and his words.
with the world, its state, us,
and how seriously we take everything,
including him and his words.
I enjoy the company of men
who laugh at themselves,
who laugh at themselves,
while living in societies
populated by seriousness.
populated by seriousness.
I toss a wish on a coin
and think of my friend
at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles
and think of my friend
at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles
who, when issuing my Chinese entry visa,
agreed with me -
agreed with me -
that people might rot from the inside out
if they don’t slow down just a little,
worry less,
and chew their food just a little more.
We both agreed that worrying and chew their food just a little more.
interrupts peaceful digestion.
~~ Other People's Fingerprints ~~
Sometime after 1741 Sebastien Roch Nicolas Chamfort wrote,
“All passions exaggerate:
It is only because they exaggerate
that they are passions...”
