Ben Friedlander
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The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry
By Benjamin Friedlander
The Chinese Cantos are about a girl
who lived in the Song Dynasty
about a thousand years ago.
The girl was not only poor but crippled. Happily,
there was a Shriners Hospital
in Louisiana
with free orthopedic care.
Her brother had a log
for them
to float across the river,
and after they arrived in Lafayette,
Snédgus and Mac Riagla ate a fair bit of placenta.
What else do you need to know?
She had thick, distorted fingernails
and glossy hair, like Jennifer Aniston,
but because she couldn’t trust her feet
she wiped her hands clean of any remnants
of Cajun pork. John Adams is also a character.
