I occasionally also write poetry, in the "recent" (近体，which means 1000+ years ago) style of middle antiquity. I try to adhere to the rhyming rules of Middle Chinese, say, as it was spoken in the Song dynasty. My command of the rules of 平仄, or "flat-vs-flux", probably corresponding to the notion of meter in English, is mostly limited at the moment to the last character of a line, as well as trying to maintain some notion of metric balance per line (e.g. avoid lines with entirely flat or flux tones). I hope to slowly improve at this. My command of the Flat Water Rhymes is much stronger. Words which are intended to rhyme (韵脚) are bolded for convenience.
森忑殘垣，一番游，一番憑吊。
想當年，江渚東邊，龍吟虎嘯。
王師夜渡束金甲，南賊令傳點銅炮。
四載間，父子手足殘，知多少。
今安在？晴川草。
亂臣禍，猶未了。
恨 奸賊篡國，邪佞當道！
萬歲不免王莽死，二世果然暴秦倒。
百年後，今朝是與非，自分曉。
In bold are the rhymes in the flux (non-checked) tone. This poem rhymes in modern Mandarin as well.
Here is a rough translation, with no literary flair.
"Full River Red - contemplations at Sumter", in May of 2025
Fort Sumter is built from red bricks, so perhaps it can be said to be another "Red Wall"
At the broken walls of Sumter, as I pass leisurely, I ponder upon history,
upon the many years ago, where east of the river delta, dragons screeched and tigers roared [a Chinese metaphor for forces vying for power].
As the king's men [union men] cross at night and tighten the clasps on their golden armor, the southern traitors pass the order to fire their bronze cannons.
In the span of four years, of counts of brother against brother and father against son, who can know for certain?
Where are they now? Beneath the grass upon the sunny delta.
Yet the chaos of unruly politicians has still not subsided.
How I loathe that treacherous thieves have usurped the nation, and that groveling evil-doers have their way at court!
Cries of ``long live the emperor'' could not save Wang Mang the Usurper [Wang Mang was an usurper during the Han dynasty, and his treachery marks the transition from Western Han to Eastern Han] from his untimely death, and the tyrannical Qin naturally fell after only two generations [lasting only 15 years] --
And in another hundered years, the rights and wrongs of today will surely naturally be self-evident.
Some words about this poem. It seems appropriate that this is the first entry here, given the recent political climate in America. This poem was written in May of 2025, at the Southeastern Lie Theory conference at Charleston, upon a visit to Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. Having spent my adult life in the northeast, the visit to Charleston shocked me -- there was no want for flagrant displays of confederate sympathy. Even my years in Texas did not prepare me for this -- I suppose the Texan identity is so strong that it overwrites the confederate identity, so in my years growing up in Texas I did not notice any conspicuous confederate imagery. One example in Charleston that stuck out to me was a heroic statue with a circular base overlooking the bay; walking around in a circle, one reads ``Dedicated to the memory of the brave men and women who fought to defend the ...'' -- at this point approaching the end of the circle one expects to see ``Union'', but one is surprised (or perhaps not) to see instead ``Confederacy''. This is extra funny because you have to walk around the full circle to get this jumpscare. Also the national park guide to Sumter casually mentioned on the ferry that the flag on the river delta had been replaced by a confederate flag some weeks ago, and was apparently recently corrected back to the American flag. This too shocked me. I wonder what the local minorities (in particular African-Americans) think about all this.
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