A Stream of Light: Midsummer Afternoon poetry & tea Gathering With Lee Ann Brown @tendtothemoon , Jiaoyang Li, and Kevin Ge

In 353 CE, Wang Xizhi gathered with thirty-nine fellow literati at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin, Kuaiji. Seated beside a winding brook, they set cups of wine adrift on the current, composing poems wherever the cups came to rest.

More than sixteen centuries later, on a midsummer afternoon at a HEYTEA Tea Bar on New York’s Upper East Side, a long table winds like a stream, with fifteen guests seated along its course. Throughout the afternoon, the music of xiao (箫), performed by Kevin Ge on the vertical bamboo flute, flows continuously, interwoven with countless moments of improvisation. Like drifting fire, the music carries the poetry as it meanders through the space.

矮纸斜行闲作草，晴窗细乳戏分茶
“Idle brush on narrow paper, cursive strokes aslant, Sunlit pane, pale foam in play — tea-blossoms conjured in a glance” — Lu You, The First Clear Day After the Rain

At either end of the table, poets Lee Ann Brown and Jiaoyang Li unfold a ritual of poetry, translation, and shared attention. Guests are invited to gather loose tea leaves and scatter them freely across sheets of paper. The scattered leaves are then drawn together into imagined forms—perhaps a tangible object, perhaps an abstract emotion. Wherever the music pauses, the drifting fire comes to rest. From that point, a story begins to grow.

Free tea will be provided by heytea usa.
The event is free but RSVP is needed.

poster designed by @pennyff_fan