Chinoiserie: Poetry Party in a Landscape

by Charles Bryant
 

Beneath the wisteria peacocks call

awaking echoes from the sleepy bay.

One by one the purple blossoms fall

through the stifling heat of the summer day.
 

Grooms and horses huddled in the shade

await our coming. We linger beneath the trees

prolonging conversation. We have made

our several poems, ink drying in the breeze.
 

We can hear the calling of the cranes

from distant marshes as evening starts to fall.

Peasants plod homeward through the nearby lanes.

The wind-blown mist, curling, covers all.

The classical Chinese paintings are all from Wikimedia Commons.

The music is from emusic United Kingdom from the label China Records/IODA, a splendid and evocative collection. See http://www.emusic.com/album/Various-Chinese-Classical-Music-MP3-Download/10920707.html