Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Monday, May 31, 2010

Snow Gogyohka

a line
of coffee cups
reclines
on the snow wall
between my house and the neighbor's


A Handful of Stones (May, 31, 2010)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Nostalgia Tanka

at night
I sleep in Taipei
but wake up in Ajax --
closing and opening
my eyes, two lives


Presence, 41

Haiku about Geese

a line of geese
flying across the bright moon…
her scarred face


Presence, 41

Friday, May 28, 2010

I Am a Reluctant Polygamist (Sijo)

Loneliness assumes its wifely role at dawn
preparing for me three meals of tenderness

Moon is an unstable mistress after sunset
seducing me with the waxing and waning of its charms

Though polygamous, Dream is my true love
offering comfort no matter what the time of day


March 2010 issue of Word Catalyst

Monday, May 24, 2010

Language, I/anguish

slanting sunrays
drift through the window
and settle again
on the worn cover
of my Chinese-English dictionary

tunnelling through my mind
I dig up English words
by lamplight --
Chinese coolie laboring
in a foreign mine

while writing poems
I hear two voices
arguing in their turn:
Conceive in English
Bu! Fan Yi
(Note: No! Translation from Chinese)

Respect English
is whispered into my left ear
Make it new
into my right --
the page remains blank


June 2010 issue of LYNX
anthologized in Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, 3, 2011

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Portrait of the Poet as a Middle-Aged Man: A Tanka Sequence

I am forty…something
in the attic waiting
alone
four years gone by
and yet no chapbooks

my life… a void
no great book
bears my name
I hit my head
with books by other poets

hit hard by
The Complete Poems
of Chen-ou Liu
I wake to rain
chattering in the room


June 2010 issue of LYNX

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Ein Fremdes Land: A Tanka Sequence

for Georg Trakl

wolf moon
standing high in the sky
I hear it
howl in my blood ...
eyes upon the dripping

head hit
by a train of thoughts
lost
a stranger among
white ruins of words

one deep gaze
into the blue of night
spurs me
at war against flesh
I am he who is apart


June 2010 issue of LYNX

Nostalgia Cherita

as night deepens

what the day has woven
unravels in fleeting dreams

as dawn breaks
my hands loosely hold
fringes from the past


March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Loneliness Cherita

no wine left

my Zen mind
filled with moonlight

the chattering
of stars
has aged


March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

A Cherita on Immigration

accidentally stepping on

my neighbor's shadow
he yells at me, illegal alien

I see
Canada geese fly over
their route, my roots


March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Calliope Left Me Alone with the Moon

You promised you would come.
Through the lonely night,
I waited in the dark
until the pale moon waned.

Having never waited,
a woman like you
could hardly know
how long a night can be.

The moon looks at me
like a careless stranger,
plunging life into sorrow.
Alone, I ponder ...

Time passes
in the sound of snow.
The sun still rises,
but a new day never comes.


March 2010 issue of Word Catalyst

Friday, May 21, 2010

E-Love

I see your face
emerging pixel by pixel:
haunting electrons seeking
the sparks of life


The Poem of the Week (Four and Twenty of the Week, March 9)

White Night

gusting winds lift up
a corner of the night
chilled, I surrender
to the inky sky


February issue of Four & Twenty

Sent to Calliope on a Moonlit Night

As autumn creeps in front yards
the groomed suburban scenery changes

With no thoughts of lingering here
Canada geese fly south to beyond

Sitting by the window when moonlight stirs
I raise my cup to you an ocean away

The hours are fast in flight
the bright moon has dimmed her rays

My heart is bound with sorrow
I hear the night’s passing

When shall we lean against the window
in the brightness, our tears dried up


February 2010 Issue of Word Catalyst

Thursday, May 20, 2010

On the Road (Cherita Sequence)

a sudden scream

fading into the day
the loneliness

of a straight road
under the watchful sun
I keep walking

long day's journey

arriving at the fork
I choose the road less traveled

the road disappearing
into the mist
I keep walking


March 2010 issue of Word Catalyst

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Beach Haiku

beach bonfire...
nothing left between
the moon and me


May / June 2010 "Beach" Thread of Sketchbook (Editor's Choice)

Beach Haiku

tar balls
on the beach ...
silent skies


May / June 2010 "Beach" Thread of Sketchbook (Editor's Choice)

Birth of a Tanka: A Tanka Sequence

a plastic bag
whirled by the wind
struggling in mid-air --
a tanka is conceived
at that sight

writing tanka --
four lines sound perfect
yet I struggle
to write a fifth
to perfect my tanka

my anguish
crumbled into a ball
I continue to write
as the wastebasket waits
for one more throw

days slip by
minute by minute
hour after hour --
a tanka is born
yet my life withers


March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

S e x, Love, and Something in Between

I

Lust --
he sips on
a bottle of hot milk.

Hurt --
she spits out
black watermelon seeds.


II

Reading The Kamasutra
she is alone --
rain on the blossoms.

Engaging business partners
he is busy --
pants around the ankles.


III

alone in bed --
she hears her cat's
piercing cry.

awkward moment --
he forgets where
his blue pills are.


IV

Career woman,
devoted wife --
short day into lone night.

Struggling writer
staying at home --
day and night are the same.


Inscribed: A Magazine For Writers, Vol., I4

Sunday, May 16, 2010

The L Word

finally, I tell Loneliness
I’m leaving you
she curls up in bed
heaves a groan of despair


May 2010 issue of Four and Twenty

Saturday, May 15, 2010

The Solitary Journey

ahead, two roads diverged
in the dim woods
the journey was long

arriving at the fork
once again, I chose the road less traveled
déjà vu

I walk it fearlessly


Getting Something Read (May 12, 2010)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Life on the GO (Tanka Sequence)

walking
towards the opened door
I’m pushed by GO riders
sadness comes
and helps shut me in

a maple leaf
drifts through the window
and lands on me
I, too, have wandered
from my natural path

getting off the train
I drag myself to the place
I live
no one for company
traffic sounds cheer me along


March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Note: GO Transit is an inter-regional public transit system in Southern Ontario, Canada

Loneliness Gogyohka

in Toronto
the meeting place
I've nothing to do --
one, two, three
tourists pass me by


A Handful of Stones (May, 10, 2010)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mother's Apron: A Mother’s Day Haiku Sequence

furrows in the sand
scooped out by crashing waves;
mother's forehead

thinking of
mother, her dishes --
Russian nested dolls

steamed buns…
enclosed in the attic
mother's smell

in the attic
autumn moonlight pools...
mother's mooncake

mother and I
stand on Pacific coasts --
the same bright moon


Mother's Day Poems section of the March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Mother's Day Tanka

white beads of rain
are falling
upon my sleeves
as I touch
my mother's rosary


Mother's Day Poems section of the March / April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Poetics of Intercourse

I, committed writer
of your body,
a scroll of eros;
you, casual reader
of my face,
a map of solitude.

We screw each other
less in reading
than in writing.


Breadcrumb Scabs, #17

Monday, May 3, 2010

Featured Tanka in Atlas Poetica

English Original:

the same moon
Li Po drank to
the same autumn
Tu Fu wrote of—
I alone change


French Translation by Mike Montreuil

la même lune
dont Li Po s’abreuvait
le même automne
que décrivait Tu Fu—
moi seul je change


Gusts, 10
showcased in New Special Feature: Canadian Tanka Poets in French and English and Salamander Cove

Tanka on Writing

staring at
my naked poems, he sighs
poor poet!
put on your clothes
and take off your masks


November/ December 2009 issue of Sketchbook

Tanka on Speaking English

English words
line up in my throat
for a good flight...
they stumble off my tongue
falling onto hard ears


November/ December 2009 issue of Sketchbook