Chinese Zodiac, photo by Jakub Halun
The dragon is in the street dancing beneath windows
pasted with colored squares, past the man
who leans into the phone booth’s red pagoda, past
crates of doves and roosters veiled
until dawn. Fireworks complicate the streets
with sulphur as people exchange gold
and silver foil, money to appease ghosts
who linger, needy even in death. . . .
–Lynda Hull (1954-1994), from “Chinese New Year”
