FLYING ASSOCIATION Poem by ZANG DI

Between Celan and Amichai there is a Du Fu.
We should drill a well and draw him up.
Carve out time to listen to the voice from underground.
Between Amichai and Tranströmer, there is a Wang Wei.
We should dig a hole in the green hill to wake him up
from the sleeping realm of snakes.
Between Celan and Tranströmer, there is a Li Shangyin.
We should drill through the stunned stone, use a thousand years of guanos
to slowly bake his shadow into a loaf of bread.
Between Amichai and Ted Hughes, there is a Jiang Kui.
We should pull him out of that tree.
Put him in a basket, and then, with a pulley and a rope,
haul him up to the treetop. There,
the basket becomes a bird's nest, as if we've wandered
into an age when both men and birds attempt to fly.