High Rise

Fawn high rise of Beijing
with wristwatch-shaped
air conditioners on each window

and burglar bars to the tenth
level in each new city,
white-belted cylinders of dwelling

sound every Hong Kong bay—
Latest theory is, the billions
will slow their overbreeding

only when consuming in the sky.
Balconious kung fu of Shanghai.
A nineteenth-floor lover

heroic among consumer goods
slips off the heights of desire
down the going-home high wire—

above all the only children.

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Copyright © 2011 Les Murray All rights reserved
from Subtropics
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission