Moon Haiku

Nunavik's moon
out of sight, its
ulu still in my heart


published in Roadrunner, #X:1

Immigration Tanka

I dream
in Chinese, my father’s dream —
I awake
Chen-ou becomes Eric
son of Canada


published in the Spring 2009 issue of Modern English Tanka

Nostalgia Tanka

my heart
is chained to my homeland
an ocean away —
memories are eroded
by time’s passing tides


published in the Spring 2009 issue of Modern English Tanka

Half-Past Tomorrow (Tanka Prose)

Everything has passed me by; I yearn for unseized moments. I think more of what has passed than of what will be. High expectations of youth have given way to sad acceptance. My life has always been and will always be uneventful: a series of life events.

tomorrow creeps in
day by day …
the joints
of my memory
age and ache

I'm not happy; yet I'm not looking for happiness.


published in Haibun Today, Vol.,3

Writing Tanka

with a click
I send out
my tanka —
time seems to crawl
from that moment


published in the Summer issues of Modern English Tanka

Time Tanka

unemployed
I take revenge
upon my deadly enemy
I chop Time
into moments


published in the Autumn 2009 issue of Simply Haiku

Relationship Kyoka

a mouth
opening, closing
salivating --
my recollection
of a divorced man


published in American Tanka, Issue 18

Food Chain Haiku

grasshopper guts
the belly of a cicada --
sparrow crouching behind


published in A Handful of Stones (March, 27, 2010)

Valentine/Love Tanka

bathed
in a cascade
of moonbeams
I think of her ways --
tender yet daring

you cry out
we've traveled on parallel paths
wait for me
where the earth touches the sky
I plead

surfing
the waves of memories
I listen intently
to the ebb and flow
of your whispers

three thousand
miles apart
divide everything --
we see the opposite sides
of the same full moon

your face
photographed
by my mind's eye
remains a delight to me
though 30 years have passed by

I wish
I could land on you
in the guise
of a ghost
like Swayze did to Moore

gazing
through my naked eyes
at your wrinkled face
you are the same woman
I married before the altar

my heart
heated red
in secret passion
for she casts her glances
unashamedly

the autumn moon
hangs over my window
rippling the lake
of my mind --
her smiling face

I spring
into the air
trying to grasp
the white tail
of your departing plane


published in the Special February Issue of Sketchbook (Vol., No. 1)

Bloody Valentine's Eve: A Tanka Sequence

drawn to
the smell of the dark night
I go out
and lie down naked...
inch by inch enveloped in its scent

as night deepens
I hunger for the blood
of the lonely
disguised as Cupid
I shoot arrows into their hearts


published in the Special February Issue of Sketchbook (Vol., No. 1)

Valentine/Love Haiku

your hand
touches mine ...
rainy clouds

wet grass
the smell of summer
in our coupled body

Valentine's Day
he lies in bed staring
at the ceiling

when thinking of her...
a June frog half-opens
its thick eyelids

Mr. Good Enough
or Mr. Right? she ponders...
Valentine's gift

my fingers
finally discover her folds
spring dawn

hydrangea --
when thinking of her
flower heart

the azure sky
in your eyes --
smell of blueberries

steam rising
from a hotpot for one
Valentine's Eve

Valentine's Day he makes love to the bottle


published in the Special February Issue of Sketchbook (Vol., No. 1)

The Floating World

Struck by its sharpness and fragility, I study a blade of grass. This opens my eyes to spring blossoms and winter snow, to nature's wide horizon, to the world I live in.

on the bent tip
of a blade of grass
a dewdrop


published in Haibun Today, Vol., 3

Candle

Every year, together, my parents light a candle on my birthday cake, giving thanks to their God for the blessings I’ve received. Then I close my eyes, make a wish, and blow out the candle with my own breath.

birthday cakes
one on top
of another
pushing me down
six feet under


published in Haibun Today, Vol.,3

A Time to Kill

maple branches etch
the inky blue sky

stars seek
one another to bear witness

I set fire
to my murderer, pondering

teardrops on the cheek of time


published in the Spring issue of Rust+Moth

Indigo Night

a V of wild geese
soar into the sky

voices dripping with grief
drive me to walk

the rising harvest moon
weeps in silence

the cold mouth of night
utters no single word


published in the Spring issue of Rust+Moth

Winter Tanka

buried earth
a silver carpet --
maples and I
gaze at the barrenness
we see in each other


Selected Tanka for Gusts, #9

Immigration Tanka

in Canada
moist green touches my yard --
dewdrops
cling to blades of grass
just as I do


published in Gusts, #9

Nostalgia Tanka

Taipei dreams
Ajax eyes waken --
my mind drifts
winged and yearning
for things not yet lost


published in Gusts, #9

Loneliness Cherita

faint mist, gloomy clouds

sorrow surrounds the day
who can take a poem

beyond the Pacific
a calligraphy of geese
flies against the sky


published in Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No. 1

Moon Cherita

bathed in moonlight

I wash in
each scent you left behind

baptized in them
I become born-again
a poet speaking in tongues


published in Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No. 1

Summer Haiku

crickets chirp
on a midsummer night
blinking stars


published in the Spring Issue of Haiku Ramblings

Spring Haiku

sunlight breaks
through willow trees by water
spots of gold


published in the Spring Issue of Haiku Ramblings

Relationship Haiku

repose
after lovemaking …
smoke ascends to the ceiling


published in the Spring Issue of Haiku Ramblings

The Sound of Night

night blankets
the silence of my dark eyes
the past lingers
in heart beats


published in the March 2010 issue of Four and Twenty

Howling

frost moon, shadow of lamppost
stray dog howling at the sky
I do the same for competition


published in the March 2010 issue of Four and Twenty

Snow Tanka

snowflakes
falling upon snowflakes ...
upon my face --
the smell of steamed buns
on mother's apron


published in the Winter 2009 issue of Ribbons

The Myth of Sisyphus (Tanka Prose)

people awake
work, eat, and sleep
the Mondays of present
follow the rhythm
of the Sundays in past

Blank years in and out. This is daily life.

And then the sudden moment of being: the stab of memories, the sting of longings, the slaughter of time. There is no screaming tragedy in ordinary life.


published in Getting Something Read (Jan., 14th, 2010)

Canadian Experience (Tanka Sequence)

piece by piece
I packed 40 years
into 60 boxes
once in Canada
they fill an Ajax attic

the crescent moon
shines over Ajax
my nostalgia
hangs
on its lower tip

my sleepless eyes
peeking through the blinds
massage
the moonlit lane
under autumn nights

time is signed
on the debris
of memories—
morning in Ajax
I live Taipei’s nightlife

your sunny face
smiling at me
in my drink—
like Ho Yi
I take nine shots

(Note: Ho Yi, a legendary Chinese hero, comes to earth to shoot down nine of the ten suns that are burning up the earth at the same time)

the autumn moon
over Ajax rooftops
hangs also above
Taiwan's fields—
rice grains falling

I met her
in an airport
we talked openly
as if we'd been stranded
on an desert island

Taiwan was safe
in my heart
years later I opened it
over the Pacific –
a worn map

on a moonless night
as I left for Canada
you gave me oranges
every now and again
Taiwan orange hangs in the sky

Canadian dream
locks me in the attic
even during the day . . .
no good time for sex
because I sleep with winter

my little brother
stands at full attention
for the first time—
no Canadian experience
needed when writing poems

(Note: In Canada, every new immigrant knows what the term "Canadian Experience" means for them. The discrimination against foreign sources of human capital places immigrants at a considerable disadvantage in the labour market. No Canadian experience, no job; no job, no Canadian experience)

when being shouted at
go back where you came from
the gray wings
of the Canada goose
skim my heart

side by side
our dictionaries
French-English
and Chinese-English—
exchange of solitudes

bathed in sunshine
outside a laundry store
in Ajax, I smell
the scent of clothes
on wash lines in Taipei


published in Atlas Poetica, #5

Bird and Wing together Go down, One Feather (Haiku Sequence)

rippled clouds
blanketing Taipei below
winged migration

rainbow arch
hanging over the CN Tower
my mouth on hers

taking S from the chest
replacing another s
poet-husband doing chores

diving into my mind
carving out a full moon
as sunlight warms Taipei


published in Lynx, XXV:1 (February, 2010)

Moon Tanka

the shining moon
that used to perch
on my childhood dreams
now hovers over
a rooming house


Note:

My tanka won Third Place in the 2009 San Francisco International Competition Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, and Rengay. It will be published in Mariposa, #22.

Time Tanka

casting no glances
at me
Time is a hectic traveller --
I've greyed
inside out


Note:

My tanka won Honourable Mention in The Saigyo Awards for Tanka 2009.