Sunday, July 17, 2011

Hui Jia - Return Home

Well, I'm back from Beijing and finally have access to my own blog. Being home is entirely weird and also entirely natural. Habits are hard to break.

Since I haven't done a music Monday in about 2 months, here are a bunch of songs I've been listening to while in China. I may or may not ever get around to writing a big post about my feelings, but I'll definitely post some pictures when I get them developed. In about 4 days I'm off to Cincinnati to visit Laura (who has been posting stuff for me) and then I need to go back to wooorrrkkk.

So, both Bon Iver and Death Cab for Cutie have recently released new albums and I love them both intensely.

Here are my favourites from each album (wow, so glad I can use youtube again!):

Bon Iver - Beth/Rest
Death Cab for Cutie - Stay Young, Go Dancing

Some other stuff:
The Velvet Underground - Sunday Morning
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - They All Laughed

Also I saw Fatboy Slim DJ at the Great Wall of China and it was pretty much one of the sickest parties I've ever been to.

Friday, July 1, 2011

abre los ojos/i saw a shooting star in inner mongolia

in the back of a taxi,
my head out the window,
rain on my tongue,
eyes open enough to see gray concrete buildings
and the left side of beijing blurring by.

from above i was staring at the ground,
by the rosebush crying, with bruises on my chin.
just a tree and a concrete wall,
freshly rained upon dirt,
black dirt and choking up my insides.

lying on my right side,
blinking slowly at two seats in front of me,
dirty beige, ripped, and bumping drunk
in the back of a bus somewhere.

“i love you” slides off my tongue
dripping with heavy,
the lingering taste of alcohol,
my stomach empty and filled with sad,
and, i loved you suddenly after i said it.

from the earth i was staring at the sky,
a sudden sobriety, eyes open to
une année sans lumière, pitch black earth,
and blinded, i had been blindsided. then
lying on my back, in inner mongolia
i saw a shooting star.