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"Chinese Silence number 14,"
after Billy Collins' "Silence."

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"You have the right
to remain silent.

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That is your job.

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A gag plugs your mouth, and the
immigrant with her loud sewing

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machine has been deported.

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So tell us about
the mind of China.

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We want to hear
the silent blooming

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of its cherry blossoms, the
quiet unfastening of its gowns,

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its songs of soy sauce,
and tiny bound feet.

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Its trains have been blown up by
dynamite, its factories bombed

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into silence.

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Its mewling puppies
have been smothered,

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and its gods are suffocating
inside specimen jars.

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Shanghai has been evacuated,
and each inhabitant

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issued an addition
of Gary Snyder.

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So tell us about your
ancestors, your grandfather

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in his bamboo cage,
your grandmother drowned

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in the well.

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Let's hear about the unmoving
clouds, the stunted trees.

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Read the poem we have
placed in front of you.

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The Pacific has been
drained, and even Ezra Pound

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has burst from his
grave, his moldering

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hand poised to translate
what you do not say."

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