The A1 Verse: Xi’s yes-men

Every so often, a story published on the front page of the New York Times is so well written, meaningful, and appropriate to the Bulletin’s concerns that small snippets of it, properly chosen and arranged, produce something more than journalism, something that approaches … poetry. That blessed coincidence occurred October 24, 2022.

We suspect it’ll occur again.

In Third Term, Xi Strengthens Grip on Power

(from the original by Chris Buckley, Keith Bradsher and Chang Che)

dark-suited men
  a bright red inner circle
dominant already
  more dominant now
the top body
  with the accelerating rise
of its hard-line
  force and control
pushed the devastated other
  with the chaos of continuity