*An Age of Academic Mandarins*

This is an age of academic mandarins
who manufacture secret vocabularies
so they can keep their verses to themselves
and away from ordinary people
who could never understand the erudition
of their obtuse allusions, or the quirky twists
of their self-indulgent minds.

Ah, Pu Chu-i, how they would laugh at you,
My Friend, standing there in your kitchen
testing your poem on your illiterate cook to see
if it is plain enough so that she and people like her
will be able to comprehend what you have to say.

And when she says she doesn't know what you
are talking about, you go back to your study
to make it plainer, more easily accessible -
pure, clean, simple: so that anyone can understand.

	- David Budbill