21 August, 2013

Beijing Subway II



twenty people
ignoring one another
sway in unison


(written between Anzhenmen and Heixinxijie Nankou)

1 comment:

Hobbes said...

So satisfying, this pair of haiku, written in the Beijing subway.

As with all busy metropolitan areas, the Chinese like to keep to themselves, and ignore one another. This is very typical of the English, as well as the Chinese. Probably, to some degree, it is true of all people.

How amusing, then, when your humble correspondent watched these folk, who were trying hard to ignore one another, all swaying together in perfect synchrony, as if engaged in a dance or ritual, against their will.

The image that makes the haiga invites you to compare the same connected motions of the passengers on the train with a different kind of passenger - although of the same nationality, in the case of these Chinese lanterns hanging on the branches of our neighbour's pear tree.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes