Dancing Dragon [Lyric Poem]

Photograph of the head of a dancing dragon taken in Melaka, Malaysia.
A dancing dragon winds
through streets of Chinatown.
Head pivots, nods, and turns
as it looks all around.

I hope its golden eye
will not catch sight of me
because its big, curved fangs
do not look so friendly.

You may say its paper,
and those teeth can't do harm,
but there's life in its moves
that's cause of my alarm.

Chinatown [Senryū]

through the paifang*,
you leave your city,
but you're not in China.

*A paifang (牌坊) is the gate over a street or road that denotes the bounds of a Chinatown.

DAILY PHOTO: Around Incheon Chinatown

DAILY PHOTO: Songwol-dong Fairy Tale Village

DAILY PHOTO: Incheon Chinatown Gates

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Incheon Chinatown

DAILY PHOTO: Chicago Chinatown

DAILY PHOTO: Dragon Wall in Chicago’s Chinatown

DAILY PHOTO: Calcutta Chinatown

Taken in December of 2021 in Kolkata (Calcutta)