Shanghai, China
Monday, October 8, 2007
You are there. I hear the fear,
loud as anything. I hear the sirens,
breaking glass, concrete smacking, screams.
Rain blusters out the windows,
collides and dampens
the pavement of endeavor.
I can’t send you poisoned letters,
my reptilian. I love you with the weight
of the entire sum of all that is unrequited and fateful.
By Jason Lasky
Ｕp! Ｕp Ｉ say! Ｈoist man
above himself and let him
simply be,
simply dream,
simply live,
and simply see things and people as they are and not as he would want them.
Ｌet the Ｆalse Ｍighty fall under their own weight of falsehood.
Ｌet the Ｔruth Ｓeekers rise through their own lightness of approach.
Ｌet Ｍan embrace and respect his Ａnimal instincts, inclinations and doings, but don’t let him forget he’s a fragile creature in the Ｓea of the Ｕnknown.
HAL/MALA poetry slam winner Obi with her trophy and hongbao.
by Obi
I kick the rocks along the pavement
thinking
there is no way I can belong here
Me.
Dark skin.
Large eyes.
A figure of one not belonging to a 28-year old woman.
They move slowly
the rocks
my mind rapidly moving
how did I get here?
HAL was kindly invited by The Chengdu Bookworm to bring our arrogant big city SH poetry to the land of the pandas, and as you will see from the pictures the result was just as rock’n roll as anyone would imagine.
So. HAL rolled down into Chengdu for a slam with the writers from MALA, the literary group of the Chengdu Bookworm, putting them toe to toe with 4 of the toughest Shanghai poets alive. The audience was treated to three rounds of slamming under the watchful eye of MC Jason Lasky. Poets told tales of lewd taxi drivers, got lyrical on the lack of jobs for Chinese college students—seriously—and the final three poets threw down on which city actually rocks, the ‘Du or the ‘Hai. Continue reading…
by Greg Baines
They are in lines stretching back north into the old station area. The first level still goes by its old name, Shanghai South Station. I’m on level three, Sky South, in charge of people coming in via airship. The lines are swelling, almost overwhelming. Comrade Zhen is jittery. He’s fought his way through walls of flesh to call more people into work.
I have processed hundreds of people over the last few days. I have seen some people with their whole lives on their backs, dangled precariously under their arms, lives downloaded onto memory chips. I see some whose faces are stained with tears, others who look relieved to be here.
by Dena Rash Guzman
That gypsy looking woman, that squat, frog faced thing
with her 25 boxes of shoes stacked tight and neat
on the train – she saw us joking about her.
She knew. “Touch them. I dare you just to walk over
and touch her shoes.” Bally.
Fake market bound, and she had lugged
them onto the Metro all alone like an ant at a picnic
with an entire chocolate bar. You pushed
me just a little. “Touch them.” I could tell
she’d have shanked me right there
if I’d dared. Maybe this was honest work, Continue reading…
Get your mitts on this: Party like it’s 1984: stories from the people’s republic of is now available for ordering worldwide from Powell’s Books.
Party like it’s 1984 is also available at these venues in the US:
Chicago – Myopic Books
– Quimby’s Books
Portland – Powell’s City of Books
by Katrina Hamlin
She looked up from the pocket dictionary. Hard, sleeper; “Ying, chang. Ying chang. Yingchang.”
The ticket seller looked back at her. “Yingchuang?”
“Ying, chang.”
The next lady in the queue repeated her, concentrating on each sound. “Ying chan.”
An impatient teenager behind her hollered, “Yinchuan,” and then in ragged unison the entire queue shouted, “Yinchuan.”
Relieved, the girl thanked them and smiled. “Yes, a hard sleeper.”
"Swimming #1" by Monika Lin
by David Perry
FROM THE BUDGET WORMHOLE VISITATIONS GUIDE TO EARTH PRIME
ENCODED IN THE SUNNY MEADOW FARMS IN THE AURORA ARM OF THE HAIER APPLIANCES & PLASMA MANAGEMENT GALAXY, UNIVERSE E1
TRANSFERRED TO THE SANCTIFIED MULTIVERSE HIVEMIND IN 349 NEWTIMES (2512 AD/OLD EARTH PRIME RECKONING)
SHANGHAI OVERVIEW
As difficult as it is to believe today, this quiet fishing village was once a bustling megalopolis. Today, little above the waves remains visible, but at the height of its glory the original Shanghai was the financial and entertainment capital of the People’s Republic of China, not to mention the de facto money and pop-culture heart of the Earth Prime post-Water War era’s Han-dominated globe.
Jean-Louis Wolff and Jeong-Hyun Lee have been shooting together for six years. With a focus on fashion and editorial photography, they also maintain a flow of fresh ideas with personal and fine art projects. While working together in Seoul, something clicked and the duo was formed. By 2004, Jeong-Hun and Jean-Louis had set up a new base-studio in Shanghai. Since, they have had advertising contracts with Shanghai Tang, Nike, Coca-Cola, and Gore-Tex, as well as contributing regularly to Modern Weekly, China Vogue, and Elle. In January 2010, they relocated to Berlin.
See more at their website.
A postpat colonist publishing house promoting China-based works by exceptional authors.
Every other Sunday — GROUPTH!NK — Join H.A.L.'s monthly writers group to read whatever you're working on or just come listen. 8:00pm. Co. Cheese Melt Bar. No cover.
To join, email Miller(at)(haliterature)(dot)(com).
party like it's 1984 - short stories from the peoples' republic of - A collection of stories from authors who never rotated back to the real world
Middle Kingdom Underground - Stories of what lies below.
Click the book above to find out where HAL publications are available.
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