What is the Color of Light
Xiaoly Li
Sisters, we lived the same [dull] color
times, not as in snowy winter or inky
nights, but the days we [the entire country]
dressed either in gray or army-green,
indistinguishable as ants.
In a remote mountain village,
where we were sent, the sun shone
shades of colors we could not ascribe.
Some families shared their clothing
taking turns going out. A few youths sat naked,
smiling on the broken mud wall. But you gazed
at one girl who was wearing a violet plaid shirt
with sea green pants—A bud of the future
bloom in our bare land.
The wild road led us back to the city, in the eve
of the Open Door, you rushed
to wear flared pants—sky blue.
Take them off, they are unpresentable!
insisted the father. That dream [of us]—
Becoming the Eastern Sea bird, Jingwei,
white beaked, red clawed, flower headed,
flying over sun splashed clouds—
maybe-years warped to bygone.
about the writer
Xiaoly Li is a poet, photographer and computer engineer who lives in Massachusetts. Prior to writing poetry, she published stories in a selection of Chinese newspapers. Her photography, which has been shown and sold in galleries in Boston, often accompanies her poems. Her poetry is forthcoming or has recently appeared in Spoon River Poetry Review, American Journal of Poetry, PANK, Atlanta Review, Chautauqua, Rhino, Cold Mountain Review, J Journal and elsewhere. She has been nominated for Best of the Net twice, Best New Poets, and a Pushcart Prize. Xiaoly received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Masters in computer science and engineering from Tsinghua University in China.