Hayfever - Poem

Literary Review, Fall, 2001 by Ouyang Yu

Hayfever

   there was a dry wind under the november sky
   around the edge of the limpid ponds of eyes
   the early summer flowers were floridly loud
   the feeling of an eerie itch was spreading slowly
   over the newly mown strips
   the blue cluster of trees shook and shivered
   like sneezes that refused to come out
   the asthmatic wheezings were ominously reminiscent of certain
   memories
   dreams at night
   were fallen teeth
   drifting in the harbour of a mouth
   when the sun narrowed its golden eyelashes
   yawns were smelling alfalfa
   the tea-coloured liquid full of dahuang
   was sluggishly oozing along the horizon
   in the garden state of victoria
   one man was passing through eternity in the afternoon sun
   head hung low
   and gazing at the ghost of dust
   gathered from continents
   aware that in the accumulation of years
   there had emerged a new terminology

Ouyang Yu, originally from China and now based in Melbourne, Australia, has published two books of English poetry: Moon Over Melbourne and Other Poems (1995) and Songs of the Last Chinese Poet (1997); and two books of Chinese poetry, The Summer in Melbourne (1998) and Cunt Sequence (2001). He was writer in residence at Beijing University, China, on an AsiaLink Residence Program (1999). His first English novel, The Eastern Slope Chronicle, is forthcoming in 2002.