10tonfunk

Standing in the freezing courtyard of a Daoist temple
listening to Jay Z
mean muggin young peasant extras and feeling bad
drinking Italian coffee out of a tupperware cup covered in stickers
breath hanging in the air like the bags under actresses eyes
Can no longer tell what’s a set and what’s history

Dark sides of meat hanging off the ribs of a panel truck
A corner electronics store offering a shiny display of rice cookers
to a dead street and a bend in the highway
Jackie Chan ad smiling down upon the folly
One child slogans painted on brick walls and houses
mixed with ads for car repair, cell phone stores
Life with one baby is so much better

Those that can afford to have built their own houses
studded with bizarre tile patterns, motley assortments of columns and balconies
a decorator’s catalog thrown into the air
scraped off the floor and shuffled into a floor plan
ample meterage for an Evita-style serenade

The countryside still wriggling in Deng’s embrace
a short man with a long reach ...read more

Real gods, fake fur
legs of ham in handy tennis racket shaped carrying cases
just sling the parma over your arma
snow drips off the tiled roofs
hissing steam when it kisses the ground

In the shoe store a leg is extended from underneath a robe
and a heavy down coat
a foot clad in a black boot with embroidered patterns
laced up to near the knee
emerges
The slipper-soled boots are exchanged
for cheap, puffy black moon boots
shoe shopping in costume concluded
we head back to the set

The dating show contestant, 25
lists his criteria for women
with his mom at his side
arguing over how many years older or younger
shorter or taller
is okay
additional requirements
“has to love me” ...read more

SARS 1019 AD
Everyone is wearing surgical masks in the plaster cave
The dusk clogs the beams from the lights
     in no hurry to move along
Blue lights reflects from cell phones onto made up faces
the glare catching the peaks of the elaborate wigs carefully glued on every morning

Someone has shown the 59-year-old director Weibo
He spends much of the day leaned back in his folding lawn chair
chuckling
adding the young crew members to his friends list
Somehow
he’s already uploaded a much younger picture of himself

He’s fascinated for several minutes when he finds a young man
     with the same name
staring at his avatar, uncharacteristically silent
It could be you from the past
Chimes the makeup girl with round white teeth

In the same set
a large two story building
is being constructed from charred logs and wood from other sets
The men work without consulting each other, or a plan
The saws whine
and sigh as they decelerate

Still in the underground compound
we doze in the trailer
with the red camping light and hindi beats
teeth clacking against sunflower seeds
clouds of conversation gently fogging the air outside

In the courtyard the light is ...read more