Yilan County #1

Tyler Golec

Yilan County #1

Mountains here are painted

Impossibly steep on the horizon

Green towers

Green pillars

Unreal till you see them close

Painted over with white brush strokes

I think of paintings by Sensie’s Wife

I’m a child again counting in Japanese

Punch, punch, punch…

Only it’s Chinese I’m speaking

And the mountains are real

Paint strokes,

The strokes of God maybe

Or many gods, spirits dwelling

In everything, everyone

I love my rolling mountains

Of granite and ice

But these mountains

Of green and life

Of white clouds and grey

This is a place I will remember