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This poem is taken from PN Review 30, Volume 9 Number 4, March - April 1983.

Four Poems Iain Bamforth

from the Chinese of Li Ho

1.
The bamboo-skin sloughs from the lengthening shoots
leaving a peeled skin of jade.
In a single night it is transformed-
soaring a thousand feet from its roots
in the mud of the garden pool.

2.
I have cut down the green bamboos to write my verses.
Over the perfumed oils and spring powder I scrawl
...


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