The Man from China
The man from China struts around D.C.
And silences the chatter about tariffs.
He says, “You’ll like this deal, just wait and see,
Call off your trade-war words and snooping sheriffs.”
His pocket’s full of cash and oily deals;
Just do not talk of how the Falun Gong—
Beneath his Party’s merchant scalpel—feels
And don’t go see that show that they put on—
Shen Yun—as then he will not shake your hand.
He wants you cowed like Hollywood execs
And universities across the land
Who with the Whore of Beijing’s yuan have sex.
…Or you can show the agent to the door;
Tell him the Kingdom of Heaven’s for the poor.
Evan Mantyk teaches literature and history in New York and is Editor of the Society of Classical Poets. His most recent books of poetry are Heroes of the East and West, and a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Wonderful leverage of the Shakespearean sonnet to shed light on the modern tragedy of Xi’s treatment of Falun Gong. I hold Xi and his party minions responsible and culpable. Showing them the door is totally appropriate, particularly if that is a door to a confined cell in which they can no longer harm others.