Red Lanterns

Chinese New Year, Shanghai   
 
It’s when the icy winter winds  
bluster down the Bund, spraying  
pin-prickles of dust, scudding  
 
the sky, scattering the fish-paper,  
ruffling waters of the ancient Huangpo,  
driving the hardiest of romantics to shelter,  
 
that the bars and alleys blaze, strung  
with luminous fruit; apples, cherries,  
strawberries—or, are they radiant  
 
ruby necklaces?  Détente:  
your hand on my knee, the thaw,  
the glow of beating, suspended hearts  
 
in our brandy snifters, talismans  
of heat, sex; believe, red lanterns  
can seduce a girl in a frigid city.  
 
 
 
*Note: This poem also appears in Snakeskin Poetry Webzine:  
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~simmers/174lanterns.html