[W.F. Lantry]

Hey, folks,

You may remember a certain poem, workshopped on the deep end, concerning a bridge in China: the rainbow bridge. I had no way of knowing, back then, that the scroll the image was taken from is the chinese equivalent of the mona lisa: just as famous, and just as iconic. Anyway, the poem is one of my personal favorites: it is as accurate as one can get. Yes, it's about a bridge, and bridge construction, but it's also about writing poetry, specifically formal poetry. When Wendy Cope saw it, she said "I had no idea one could write a poem like that!" Not sure she *meant* it as a compliment, but I took it as one!

But the biggest compliment is to have a poem, written thousands of miles away on an eastern shore, accepted for publication in a Chinese journal, and a leading one at that! Only Kate could make such a thing happen. It went up over the weekend: http://www.asiancha.com/issue/12/wflantry/

You can find an image of the original scroll here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Scroll#Gallery . The rainbow bridge appears in the center.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the discussion, which, you may recall, was fairly lively. I especially want to thank Cathy Chandler, who put quite a bit of time into her critique, and Alex, who saved some very helpful lost posts from the thread.

All Hail Kate!

Thanks,

Bill

[Ed Shacklee]

Nice!

An odd beast of a poem, but a beautiful one. Congrats, Bill.

Ed

[Maryann Corbett]

I do indeed remember the discussion, and I'm glad to hear that such exceptionally good things came to the poem. Congrats, Bill.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Just curious, Bill. Who is your publisher in Antartica? Yust yoking. Congrats to you and your better half.

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Janice D. Soderling

Who is your publisher in Antartica?

Thanks, everybody. Janice, I asked Kate about this. She stared at me strangely, then, in a voice full of mystery, said "Watch for news from north of the Arctic circle." The Oracle always speaks in riddles, but who am I to question her? She inhabits a world we only know through intuition and dreams!

Thanks,

Bill

[Catherine Chandler]

Congratulations on this publication. I remember the poem very well.

[Adam Elgar]

A very ingenious construction, Bill! Great to catch the Copean eye too.