Status Updates From Người Đài Bắc

‘Some—took to going to the temples everyday to—pester the Bodhisattvas; others went to fortune-tellers to learn what their future would hold—burning—money—muttering prayers—against a sea of flaming red azaleas. I was stunned to see those hundred or so azaleas—one mound piled on another mound, one wave churning up another wave—all exploding in riotous bloom—blood-red. I had never seen azaleas bloom with such abandon—’

‘—Suzhou-accented Shanghainese—displaying the ease & suppleness of a windblown catkin drifting along, free of roots—she moved to her own beat. No outside disturbance could affect her—like a late-blossoming pear tree—tuberoses—a cup of Iron Kuanyin tea—muttering about her behind her back—‘People do not stay in favour a thousand days; flowers do not stay in bloom a hundred days’—blood-red tulip—Mt. Qingcheng, Sichuan—’