Streetlight
A poem about Shanghai
For friends of Shanghai
The strongest desire to keep going takes root after hitting a dead end. With nothing to give or take, this city breaks your smithereen heart only to watch you rebuild it. 3 AM, workers are hauling things to where they need to be, too early for coffee or thoughts about how the world goes around. Electric scooters with so much strapped to their backs, like peacocks with plastic wings on the tarmac learning to fly. Streetlights study the geometry of rain. In their warm luminescence, a father plays badminton with his son. Will they remember this mundane night? Comes morning and no trace of it all. Just the ground, almost dry. Another man is smoking a cigarette on a lawn chair with his husky; and another walking a reindeer in Xuhui River Park. Outside a donation box, a guy pulls out a shawl dress. He poses for his friend, and they both giggle. If any of this surprises you, you haven’t seen enough. Brighter days ahead, Shanghai whispers, Dreams of the most pragmatic kind. Blistered concrete of want, resilience, and optimism so relentless that the skyline burns, incandescent white, forging a morning out of the night sky.
Poet Tony Hoagland probably had never been to Shanghai, yet for some reason, I thought about him a lot when I wrote this poem (more like editing together bits and images I’ve collected in the past year). I love the way he addresses the readers unapologetically with the most honest musings, like saying — don’t you see this and that and everything has a message for you? I hope I never stop noticing those messages.
Absolutely gorgeous imagery Erica ❤️