This is Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies. Beijing calligraphers creating characters with brush and water inspired this poem by KU professor emeritus Beth Shultz:

They are polishing up the new

sidewalks at the corner of Wangfujin.

They crouch above their machines,

pressing them hard to the stone.

The granite dust muffles them.

Their faces are swathed in towels.

They have been told the sidewalks

will last as long as the Wall.

They are writing old poems on

the sidewalks at the Temple of Heaven.

They dip long brushes into water.

Gracefully, silently, they spell out

their characters, large and flowing

onto these concrete scrolls. They pause

to consider whose calligraphy appears

most praiseworthy, most enduring,

and as they deliberate, the sun rises,

erasing their poems, stroke by stroke.

With thanks to Beth Schultz for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.