The Loud Speakers

And the loudspeakers blare out their music and talk

Announcing the news and instructing the students

In sonorous, sing song tones that rise and fall

Ebb and flow

Keeping time

As the students come and go

Between their classes

Along the concrete paths below

And an occasional tractor chugs along noisely

And a workman is shouting out orders

And some kids come by laughing rancorously

The loudspeakers are the megaphone

Of big brother and older sister

Always reminding us our schedule

Punctuating our days with punctual regularity

Reminding us of our appointments

And our fate

Reminding us all

Regardless of our suffering and condition

That no one in China is alone

That no human being is an island

And one person's burden

Thus becomes a million people's toil

Do not ask me

For whom the loudspeakers call

As they always call for thee

The Great Wall Revisited

Trails in the Snow

1991-1993