October 2006
Written by Li Li
Translated from the Chinese by Jami Proctor Xu
Narrated by Jami Proctor Xu
China
I’m sweeping the dewdrop dotted leaves on the cyan stone patio.
Silence arrives with the songs of birds.
I see my son kicking a ball, my daughter swinging.
They’re so far from news and fear.
The bamboo stalks stand still, protecting the garden path,
protecting the blue sky that speaks my mother tongue with me in the morning.
Apples jump into the grass, one after the other, “We
refuse to have a fixed price, we want to live our own lives!”