NORTHERN NARRATIVES by Li Yongcai

NORTHERN NARRATIVES

by Li Yongcai                   

In deep autumn, up north,

wherever you go, to be alone,

there is a sense of returning home.

No matter which way the wind blows,

the water does not glitter as much as before.

Then the wind stops howling, and the fallen leaves fall silent,

piles of them, held in autumn's embrace.

They look like discarded banknotes

to witness the innocence of our world.

Hiding is one way to go.

But, if you hang out with those people on the road,

be ready to live by your wits and the biting cold.

In desolation, you will be the only one

to know it takes creativity

to return to simplicity and monotony.

Like a Phoenix hiding in the sky,

despite the alluring calls of the world,

there is no trace of it on Phoenix Mountain.

Mountains and rivers, the setting sun

over the persimmon trees, and persimmons

weave a traditional narrative.

The fine afternoon is receding, replaced by an empty

silent space. What draws me closer to it,

to merge with the fade-away ambiance,

is not the soft sadness of a persimmon,

but the bass guitar on the wall, leaning back.

Its posture resembles a pear almost,

strumming autumn. 

About the poet:

Li Yongcai (born January 1966), a native of Fuling, Chongqing, now resides in Chengdu. He is a member of the China Writers Association and a contracted writer of Chengdu Literature Academy, as well as the executive editor-in-chief of Sichuan Poetry. His works have been published in more than 300 periodicals including Poetry Periodical, Stars, Yangtze River Poetry Journal, Journal of Selected Poems, Green Breeze, Poetry Monthly, Poems Forest, The Poetic Tide, Poetry of Jiangnan. He has published several poetry collections including Direction of Hometown, Urban Objects, Color of Void, Hands of the Church and Pasture of the Soul. He leads the editorial work of poetry anthologies such as Geography of Sichuan Poetry and Map of Chinese Poetry.