Nowadays High-Rises Are the Crops of the City

Vying for land with rice   vying for land with corn

Vying for land with soybeans and sorghum

Vying for land with folks who dwell in old buildings

Nowadays high-rises are crops of the city

Rice plants in rural villages get shorter all the time

Two kinds of crops are left achingly behind

Grandparents, straggly and lurching   kids weathering a dry season

The city cuts deep furrows   strews seeds across them

Buildings spring up like stalks, adding height each day

Porches, penthouses, landscaped estates at your window

Greenery ready to flower, brought in half-grown from nurseries

The soil belongs to the state   the state belongs to the people

But the high-and-mighty state seems to have no handle on the soil

It seems unrelated to those myrmidons who are busy filling their bellies

Thunk! A big seal stamped on a document who-knows-where

Sets the snowball of wealth rolling for certain people

The developer signs for rights to a really big plot

with borrowed funds he can hire workers to till it

Skillful planting is still done by farmers   on day labor or contract

Now they have donned hard hats

Grain prices keep climbing   agencies and brokers rake in cash

On the escalator of merit   big cash always wins promotions

The city's crops block out sun and sky

Swarms of people dart among the roots, on foot and wheels

Like leeches, earthworms and tadpoles

We like to say the land's worth is measured in gold

How grand these gold-plated houses as thick as comb's teeth

Where common people can't even afford a “snail-shell abode”!

Those who face gentrification watch over ancestral paddies

A high wind is blowing in the sky as the economy slumps

Large-scale developers shout their misery to the heavens

All day with tireless zeal they keep tilling this field of new hope

Written in 2012

Translated by Denis Mair