I Know That The Earthquake Is Old News But... Poem by Chen-ou Liu

A Haibun

That afternoon I was rocked into a deep sleep. In my dream I saw Mother holding me tightly and tearfully whispering a lullaby, "My child! ... Fear not, and sleep well."

amidst debris
scattered through the fields...
a child's pink book

A reporter keyed in the headline, "7.9 Earthquake trembled through Sichuan, China." Official figures (as of June 4) :
69,122 are confirmed dead,
4.8 million people homeless,
and 7,000 classrooms flattened...

one howl, then many...
the starless night
even darker

An operator pushed a button; numbers and images spread over the front page.Newsprint slid through color printers. Somewhere in the back pages, the China earthquake story waited with the news from other developing countries.