Tuesday, 8 November 2022

Tuesday Poem: "Kubla Khan" by Chen Li


In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
a giant, mobile pleasure
-dome decree.
“I don’t want fixed things. I am tired of

those regular rooms, of concubines who use the same perfume,

give the same moaning after standard procedures

though there are thousands of
 them...”
Picking and calculating carefully, his Italian counselor, good at business administration,

arranged and combined those concubines into teams
 of six, three, or five,
three times per night, in different directions, in different formations,

to serve their emperor by turns.

Fine wine, opium, honey, leather whips,
globes, vibrators, the Bible, sex
-appealing underwear.
“I’ll ceaselessly move, ceaselessly feel excited, ceaselessly conquer,

ceaselessly reach the orgasm...”
But this is not a question of math,
not a question of military affairs, not even a question of medicine.

“This is a question of philosophy.”
Outside the palace, the ignored Persian traveler said,

“Time is the best aphrodisiac

that fosters change."

by Chen Li


For more information about the poet, Chen Li, see:


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