Poem of the Day: "China: Ancient Technology Exhibition” by Mary Soon Lee

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition” by Mary Soon Lee.  Ms. Lee was born and raised in London but has lived in Pittsburgh for the past twenty years. Her poetry credits include Atlanta Review, Ideomancer, and Star*Line. Her poem "Interregnum" won the 2014 Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem.

China: Ancient Technology Exhibition

Mary Soon Lee

The young interpreter

Says she recognizes me,

As we stand watching

A man make paper

From strained bamboo pulp;

His face tells a story

I cannot read.

     

I have never met

Either of them before,

But something pulls me

As the man pulls

Each sheet of paper

From the pressed pile

And hangs it to dry.

     

My father grew up in Malaysia,

Spoke Chinese as a boy,

A link in a chain

That stretched back

Through his father's father,

Who came from China.

But the chain has broken.

     

I speak only English,

Grew up in London,

Carry my heritage

In vestiges

Like my odd middle name,

Whose meaning

I am unsure of.

     

The interpreter smiles

At me as if she knows me,

Says she recognizes

My voice, the British accent,

Or what's left of it

After thirteen years 

Here in America.

     

She's a long way

From home, and I wish

I knew what she thinks

Of Cleveland,

Of the people who stop

To watch for a minute

Before walking away.

     

I wish I knew more

Of what my father thought, 

But instead

I buy a piece of paper

From the man, 

Dipping my head in thanks

As he rolls it up gently.

     

Two dollars to buy

A piece of history,

Reenacted for my convenience.

I wonder how long it will be 

Before I remember

To take the paper

Out of my car.

Poet’s Notes:  I wrote this poem in 2003 after visiting an exhibition about China in the Great Lakes Science Center. The details about my father are accurate. He died in 1986, and I miss him still. I now know that the meaning of my middle name is “peaceful/harmony.”

Editor’s Note:  I love the mood that the poet has created here, as well as fluidity with which she manipulates time.  “China: Ancient Technology Exhibition” first appeared in American Scholar, Spring 2004, Volume 73, Number 2.