Pale Star (2011)

Pale Star (2011)

(January 18, 2011) Pale Star. Illustrated by Bronwyn Lloyd (Auckland: Pania Press, 2011)

Pale Star

(K.M., 1923)

[after Xu Zhimo]


Unintentionally imitating Chinese style
her hair was pitch black & straight

Her features seemed to me
like the purest Indian jade

or pristine snow in the Alps
Her brightly-coloured clothes

might have aroused some criticism
had they been worn by anyone else

on her they looked becoming
like green leaves on a flower

Her figure was so fragile
that a man standing beside her

felt his breathing to be too coarse


(7/4-24/7/09)

KM & Xu Zhimo. Pania Press (18/1/11)

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