Title: Railway China

Author: John Newton

In: Sport 39: 2011

Publication details: Fergus Barrowman, 2013, Wellington

Part of: Sport

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Sport 39: 2011

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In the willowy night of old Kyoto white herons fished in a shallow canal.

Minnows, it seemed, were drawn by the lights that spilled from the restaurants of Pontocho, as I was drawn by the sound of a saxophone calling from deep in the cobbled labyrinth.

Thus it was I came to meet the horn player Chouko Kobayashi.

page 135

Bass and drums, meandering loosely, Chouko, myself and the barman made five. Between sets she sat with me and asked many questions.

When the rhythm section called it an evening I showed her some verses:

Bossing that big brass ax
with your pelvis, your cheeks
blew up like the fugu fish.

Where does it blow from, this hot wind:
the land of granite
or the land of cranes?

‘Better,’ she said, ‘you write land of trains?’ At once I perceived she was right and amended the poem.