In honor of Liu Xiabo, the Chinese dissident who died in captivity today, I present a poem I wrote after he was bestowed with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 called "Guest of Honor (For Liu Xiabo)". It is worth remembering that Liu was honored a year after President Obama.
How do you hold a dinner
In honor of a man
Who for lack of a better word
Has been detained
And will be unable to attend
He won't be there
For the cured reindeer
And smoked duck
That will be enjoyed
By visiting dignitaries
He won't be there
For all the kind words
To be uttered by complete strangers
He won't be there
To hear calls for his immediate release
He won't be there
To be forgotten
Until next year's recipient is announced
Well, at least the proceedings
Will be an improvement over last year
When the guest of honor
Could only talk about himself
What could the committee
Have been thinking?
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