"Paths" (For Prof. Wu Bing)

Leaving the old ways behind

which always linked our stories

backwards, to tradition, she instead traveled outwards, to Hawaii

insisting upon diversity, where Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean

and Hawaiian peoples lived side-by-side

 in their proximity and passion.

She is the one who called our words

 "a literature of introspection"

Where the writing--outwards from China to America

from East to West--always leads one back home.

The outward path creates the road inward

forming a luminous circle

 a poem not only for the mind

but a direction for the heart.

And I, just one among many

continue to travel on the delicate edge

of her introspective thoughts.

In New York, I am awakened by a sparrow

that brings me back to dawn, Beijing.

Russell C. Leong  (April 1, 2012, New York City)

UCLA Asian American Studies Center

 Note: Russell C. Leong, a retired professor from UCLA, is a well-known Chinese American poet and writer, currently teaching in New York.