1. the man fishing
the man fishing on the beach in dulan sitting in a chair stands up to put more worms on the hooks and they writhe on their little hooks and he casts the line out again. i think of that line about how when men go out to fish it’s not the fish they’re looking for. i think about men with their worms out in the water wriggling on a string, enjoying the fresh air.
2. the man looking for rocks
the man looking for rocks on the beach in dulan told me to put the dusty red ones i’d picked up down, because they weren’t rocks, they were bricks the ocean had rubbed into rounds, other people would laugh at me, and they would get my hands dirty. he had a pocket full of gray dusty looking rocks he’d picked up looking for some pattern or another. he wore a red stone on a ring, a stone he’d found on the beach and gotten a friend to polish and set. i don’t mind if people laugh at me, i insisted. but i picked up another rock that looked like petrified wood, and he was satisfied. later walking up the street i placed the two red brick-stones neatly on top of each other by the side of the road. laughing a bit at myself. i had found their color so mesmerizing scattered among the gray blue green stones glistening with ocean water under the sun. now on the concrete they just looked like regular old bricks again, in the shape of stones.
3. the man walking his dog talking to the ladies
sitting on a bench near the canal near my grandma’s apartment in beijing. two ladies neatly placed their newspapers lined with some shiny insulation on the next bench over and sat down. look over there, one said, how did he know we would be here? over walks a man with his little poodle, who goes around sniffing the ladies and pees on the trash can. the man stops the poodle from ever coming towards me. the women talk about how the other day they met two young men who each had dogs and decided to live the rest of their lives that way, traveling with each other and the dogs. today’s young people they said, half in awe, half in worry, i imagine — 他们不一样了. they’re not the same. women living with women and men living with men and none of them want children. the man says well, of course. raising a daughter is a bit not worth it, don’t you think. after she gets married she belongs to another household. takes care of her husband’s parents. it’s like you raised her for nothing. and let alone the taking care, what about 受别人气? taking the brunt of other people’s anger? in the city it’s okay but in the villages it’s still like that, he says. the women hem and haw uncommittedly. the dog sniffs around the rails. the man picks it up and pretends to throw him over the railing. the dog squirms, tail between legs, paws splayed. 别逗了! stop teasing! the women call out. the man laughs, ignoring them. look! he says. it knows to be scared. he lets it down, only to pick it up again and hold it over the railing again, over the water of the canal. stop it! stop it! the ladies scold.
hog maw 