‘Zhang Dejiang’s Hong Kong Visit, May 2016’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

Zhang Dejiang’s Hong Kong Visit, May 2016

By Li “Web Crease” Du

“But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow.” -The Beatles, Revolution

Zhang Dejiang, the Communist charged with Hong Kong’s affairs,
arrived amidst great discontent, as one of Beijing’s Chairs,
the third in power after Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang;
authoritarian, he is not liked much in Hong Kong.
He doesn’t like democracy or freedoms it enjoys:
Suppress the press, free speech, assembly—all unwanted noise!
Security around the airport and his stay was tight;
all yellow and umbrellas were removed from near his sight,
A giant banner calling for the universal vote
was brushed aside, along with China’s Cultural Revolt.*

*May 2016 was the 50th-year anniversary of Mao’s Great Proletarian Revolution

On His Anniversary

By Bruce Dale Wise

One week-day morning after he had eaten breakfast food,
he had esophageal spasms, and did not feel good.
A squeezing pain within his chest just would not go away;
the stress he felt refused to melt, insisting it would stay.
He activated 911; for he was feeling bad;
but when his heart was monitored, the news made him feel glad.
He started to relax, but still he felt jackhammer pounds,
the medics put him on a gurnee, semi-lying down.
Along with acid reflux, ambulance, and lots of folk,
the stress crescendoed into clarity, and then it broke.

Bruce Dale Wise is a poet living in Washington State who often writes under anagrammatic pseudonyms.