Sensitivity Of China Poem by Douglas Scotney

To the west of Annapurna and Manaslu
and Xixabangma,
and solely in Nepal,
is 8,172 Dhaulagiri,
whose 4,000 southern wall
remains unconquered,
the greatest remaining climbing challenge
of all.

The feeling I have now
for Xixabangma
began in my atlas index.
It's next highest west of Everest
to Cho Oyu,
and just over the border,
north of Katmandu.
Of the 14 peaks above 8,000,
at 8,027, it is the minor;
but it's the highest,
solely in extended China.

It was named
after a punishing snowfall
left little to eat:
bangma means the dregs of brewing,
and xixa is dead animals' meat.