A family appears on a road at night, all wearing summer pastels.I've pulled into the driveway of the rented house and can't seetheir faces. For an instant, I think of The Night of the Living Dead —respectable husbands and wives, sisters and brothersrudely interrupted from their long repose, forced to lurch downcountry lanes and sidewalks…

and the man who had dared to steal a lookacross the subway aisle hooted. A bible smalland square, forbidding as a padlock on a jewelcase lay over her trim lap. The good booktells me you’re damned because you seekthe body’s pleasure. Her trumpet voice blasted fallensouls--him and every one of us. I was enthralledby this…

1. Embroiderer of the Emperor's RobesSummoned as a boy, he stays alivein the Forbidden City by weaving memories with the silk of his mother's hair,green thread of mountain mornings.I squint before its dazzle,searching for the old, conscripted tailor. He hides, a bent shadow on the retinue's fringe, spent eyesnarrowing to the eye of his needle.2.…

Found: two boxes of wigs in my tomband a stash of makeup; considering my rain-soaked sail to the other side, you assumea queen needs to freshen up. But no, I changedlooks to slip by unknown in last century’s hair styleand dated powder shades like bronze and clay.You’ve seen my “death mask” in the museum’s Nilewing…