New Year Offering
Happy Year of the Tiger from Beijing
New Year Offering
She feeds cardboard into a fire
alone in the alley corner, easy as
pressing palms together in prayer.
I don't care much about ancestors,
blasphemous as that is to admit, but
I would like to know who’s on her mind,
how many names she believes
deserves remembering. Perhaps the dead
are easier to please, unlike today’s children
who demand what they don’t need, or
our contemporaries still gossiping to get ahead.
This government says we should have more kids
for society’s sake, but they don’t see the society
each person carries, what burdens and obligations.
Anyway, it’s not the government that steps outside
on a night like this, the cold dense as the sky above,
crouching to light a fire. The demon that dances
dances in the pupils of her eyes, palms extended.
Be gracious on this festive evening, you ghosts.
Be prosperous, mother, father. I send evidence
of my happiness and wealth.