Tu Fu Comes to America

Poet Larry Smith projects ancient Chinese poet Tu Fu into the American landscape. Here is the text of the poem by Larry Smith:

Tu Fu Talks with Barack Obama

This morning I woke beside the road
and walked seven miles
across your state of Virginia,
then took the railway into town—
so many faces, so many voices,
different tongues from different lands.

On the train I sat and watched:
they all looked forward to this city,
many mute, all with some need
etched into their face.

One woman complained of her cancer,
said shed come to stand outside your window.
An old man near the station
begged for my change.

I know your days are busy;
this countrys needed leaders for years now.

Send the Congress into the streets
to know the thirst and hunger,
the Senate to the battlefields
where lives are spent like loose change.

Dont give up until they know
the waste of waiting for reform.

If you could see the young girls face
riding beside me, pregnant
with the hope of seeing you.

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Entertainment

Tags:

• America
• economy
• healthcare