She walks the heady perfume of pepper-scented roads,
Strides through clumps of spikenard, scattering their fragrance.
—from “The Goddess of the Luo,” by Cao Zhi (192–232)
they used to sprinkle the path
with pepper
so that it smelled good,
assuring.
that it was firm, straight
a good will. that no one
who ever trod on it
would walk awry. a dream.
it was good to dream
dreams in third-century
China, when bronze pigeons
floated around, literati
woke up to find food
on the table.
they smoked herbs
to get high.
now they use pepper
for a different purpose.
when we, the literati,
gather, they, the barbarians,
pepper us.
those pepper seeds, grown
in the warmth of South America
distilled—capsaicin. assassin.
a peppered path: where
another pepper tree grows
solid, piercing
shielding up the soul
from anti-riot vehicles.