poem written in yangshuo

Wata Buffalo <><><><

David 李 Hawks

Hey beast, I see you,

yonder on the grassy shore

Tethered and peaceable

and alone.

So I’m pulling over, paddle laid

straightaways on my lap

Palms on the bow

That means peace, by the way

My god,

You’re beautiful.

You’re shy, too, stealing looks at me

As I stare your bronze body into shame

The sun

hits you

in

such

a

way.

Your horns are short and neat

and sweet, you couldn’t gore me,

would you?

Mine companions thataways, drifting down the teal river

We’re alone so…

So finally now, we share a gaze

Longer than memory, history,

And in two onyx abysses I’m lost.

I seek

To return, go back to a time

When your nostrils weren’t threaded with string

And that life,

Where as a pure peach one-inch boy,

I hung happily on your neck.