Chongqing Bubble Poem by doug bentley

Every noon the sun springs eclipse
above the sickly industrial air
of chongqing*, coughs way out
of cancerous cloud, wheezes

along dull line of factories,
flasher exposing naked power
to dim world of dying shadows
below. a bubble, fragile

filament of electric skin charged
by negativities breaks for the tree.
buffeted by whisps it elongates
to cone, tensing skin in reacting,

one lifetime too short to evolve
escape lucidities which alone
satisfy dreams bubbles hold,
wind relentless as time wearing

down all resistance, the particle
grim air oscillating chongqing,

blinding sun bare
tree blackening too


* Chongqing, People's Republic of China