Best Szechuan Poems
When you go out to eat
what do you like to taste?
Polish, Italian, German, Greek, and American
or fast foods made in haste?
I get into Chinese food
from Canton Noodles to Szechuan Steak.
Dim Sum, Spring Rolls, Sweet Sour Duck and more...
Often, I won't even take a break.
Everyone has their favorite Chinese place
where the food is strange, but Oh So Good!
We often find that singular dish
that puts our taste buds in the mood.
I know of just such a place...
Where the food is served with care.
The portions are so big as well,
You'll only finish - If you dare.
Those little white cartons that you take home
are good for another meal or two.
Or if you get the munchies in the middle of the night
they are there, waiting for you.
I won't tell you the name you see
because "Each to their own" , they say.
But, if you're 50 miles northwest of Chicago,
You're going the right way.
Just a little place in a small town...
It's been around for 45 years.
But the cuisine is diverse and tasty,
Eating the chili peppers can always bring tears.
Even if you can't get out here,
I'm sure you've found one you like.
Next time you order Moo Shoo Pork,
Remember, to get to mine will be a hike.
I know I didn't give the name,
It's my little game you see...
But, I gave you a hint in the title,
If you figure it out...what a "Smartie" you will be.
Whenever a ginseng breeze blows,
Tokyo tears fall in my heart —
I have mountain village longings for distant her
My lonely home sits below sea-level blue,
my sabishi jia is sinking below cerulean water
Butterfly images on the rice paper lantern
softly sway ... gently I fall into a light sleep
My dreams float in the night Szechuan sky,
wishing for the clouds to cry
I feel the famine embrace of my phantom sorumeito —
My ghostly soulmate rests in the arms of another,
leaving me with a dearth of
barren gingko days ... only empty Yangtze pain
The air I breathe remains dry,
but my heart is flooded with emotional rain
I’m drowning on the inside,
overcome by
a downpour of internal torrential weeping
Overwhelmed by unabated emotional rain
Heavy is my Chengdu heart ... swept to the depths
of deep despair
by tsunami waves of true love loss
Never knew freedom would come
with such a soul evaporating cost
Didn’t realize being captive was such a joy,
oh how I wish I was still kept in her heart
As the morning sky starts to cry,
the rain washes away the levee pride
which my dry eyes used to hold back
All the tears that had built up in my heart
for too long
Today, my emotional rain
has washed me clean
to the far shores of hope again
Assuaging our thirst drives us in from the street,
shoppping fatigued; a welcome retreat
as a menu of delights rewards us with tea,
Black Yunnan for you and Silver Tips for me.
Smooth liquid sunshine kisses Ruby Woo lips,
puckered to perfection; taking delicate sips,
savouring the euphotic zone where the flavour is mellow
deliciously steeped to an exquisite yellow.
Anecdotic tales shared in our corner recess,
chitchat and gossip; secrets we confess
over an exotic brew drunk from that porcelain chalice
precious moments imbibed at the Szechuan Palace.
Kung Pao chicken over rice
a spicy delight
tantalizing my taste buds
Szechuan pepper
lighting a fire
on my tongue
ouch