Analysis of Monascus red, Rose Laevigae Micchx Brown

Monascus red, Rose Laevigae Micchx Brown
By Xiaoyuan Yin

Zhu① and Xun② -- symbols of wind and earth……Over the night-veiled mountain ridges
Dye jars lined up like pipes of a syrinx. There contained in them
Were ashes to decorate a monochrome world: garish funguses growing in the sun’s shade
And gristles of a rose haw. Crushed, once they were, frothed along the roads
Which emperors, sages and court chroniclers have stridden along, and left
A layer of rusty green----

Beneath the window, on the sushi- rolling mats
Glutinous rice awaits its change ……

The ethereal woman with a cattail fan in her hand,
Owns a room in the background – it is shadowy, almost invisible to Time. Pink oval yeast
Is perfect icing sugar for this world- like fallen cherry petals. Gradually they will get tinted by the warmth and voices
Of passers-by. Alas! Light and colors started to
Drift west now: dress up, cleanse your hands, burn incense and sing a canticle, as the beginning of a worship ritual:
Red: the Three-Legged Crow, lightning flames, and exotic flowers on a thousand-year-old tree;
Brown: soy source, tombs and earthenware

They plan to return to the future with them. They also carry
The fire    bloodlines    farm implements    sets of bronze teeth…
There are a profusion of antique fibers to chew

①: The Zhu (筑; pinyin: zhù) was a percussion instrument used in the Confucian court ritual music of ancient China. It consisted of a wooden box (which was often painted red or otherwise decorated) that tapered from the top to the bottom, and was played by grasping a vertical wooden stick and striking it on the bottom face. The instrument was used to mark the beginning of music in the ancient ritual music of China, called yayue.
②: The Xun is one of the oldest musical instruments in China, with a history of approximately 7,000 years. The earliest xun was made of stone or bones, but later it became earthen. It is an egg-shaped wind instrument. Initially it had only one hole, but afterwards it gained more holes. Finally at the end of the 3 century BC a six-holed model appeared.
③ Sishi rolling mat: Proper equipment for sushi making, includes short-grain sushi rice, a sharp knife and a bamboo sushi mat. Constructed of thin strips of bamboo loosely bound to make a flat, rectangular, but flexible surface, sushi mats help tightly roll together the seaweed, sticky rice and fillings to create a sushi roll.