Colorful, comical talking signs sprinkle American highways.
Governor Cuomo erected hundreds saying I love NY
My favorite is the two 3-D black-and-white cows billboard —
one cow sitting on the back of the other, painting Eat Mor Chikin.
Billboards in China are political propaganda on:
Chinese spirit, Chinese image, Chinese culture, Chinese voices.
They overshadow street names.
When one asks for directions, he is often told:
Turn left at the big electronic screen of President Xi,
cross the bridge flying the anti-corruption banner,
walk toward the wall poster of happy dancing children
and the store will be on the right.
Foreign tourists not knowing the language are often lost.
Once my husband and I parked a rental car on a Munich street.
I painstakingly copied down the exact street name sign
only to discover later the words said, “One Way Street.”
Chu grew up in Hong Kong, came to America for college, and has lived in Princeton for 50 years. Her poems have appeared in U.S. 1 Newspaper, Kelsey Review, Princeton Arts Review, US 1 Worksheets, and other journals.
