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

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Year in, Year out: A Haibun

Since my emigration to Canada in 2002, I have done nothing important but go about my daily routine year after year. I feel like I have been living in limbo, caught between two cultures, with a sense of displacement and estrangement. This uneasiness prompts me to try to cross the boundaries of time, and to free myself from the puzzlement of the present by delving into memories of the past and fantasies for the future.

Starry, Starry Night...
bit by bit I get myself
out of my mind

Monday, February 27, 2012

A tanka

the one percent
or ninety-nine percent,
does it matter?
I gaze at In God We Trust
on my old dollar bill


Haiku News, 1:7, Feb. 27, 2012

A tanka

new Kama Sutra
on my coffee-stained desk
the memory
of her moaning
in the winter mist


Haiku News, 1:7, Feb. 27, 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Whispers in the Wind: A Haibun

budding lotus
in dappled sunlight
her laughter

We meet on a campus footpath after class. I’m eager to share today’s lesson with her.

A Zen master and his disciple walk by a maple tree. The disciple notices its branches swaying gracefully in the wind, and asks, "Master, is it the branches that are moving, or the wind?" The master replies, "What is moving is neither the branches nor the wind, it is your heart and mind."

She turns toward me, her lips curved into a soft smile.

Philosopher's Walk
a squirrel in the path
looking to and fro
 

(Japanese Translation by Writers in Kyoto

哲学者の道」と地形がそっくりともいわれる)

 

Haibun Today, 6:1 March 2012


Note: The Zen story above originated from koan 29 -- Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving -- in The Gateless Gate, a collection of 48 Zen koans complied by the Chinese Zen master Wumen Hui-kai. The book was published in 1228. Various story versions of koan 29 have been widely popularized.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Friday, February 24, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mardi Gras Senryu

Mardi Gras
one by one girls flash
their breasts for beads


World Kigo Database (Ash Wednesday)

Note: Mardi Gras in New Orleans is one of the biggest Carnival celebrations in the world, in/famously known for its “tradition of women baring their breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets.” For further information, see the Wikipedia entry, titled New Orleans Mardi Gras, and its subsection, Exposure and Mardi Gras.

Urban Senryu

Rose Monday parade
small Sarkozy nestles
between Merkel's breasts


World Kigo Database (Rose Monday)

Urban Senryu

Rose Monday float
sunlit "Merkozy" tattoo
on Merkel's right arm


World Kigo Database (Rose Monday)

Note: The Rose Monday parades in Cologne, Mainz and Duesseldorf are the highlight of the German street carnival season, in/famously known for their satirical procession floats.

Monday, February 20, 2012

A Senryu

Family Day
they sit side by side
watching TV


World Kigo Databse (Family Day)

Note: Nearly 60% of Canadians observe a statutory holiday on the third Monday of February.

Moon Tanka

the silvery light
at the Moon Festival
enters
a corner of my dark soul...
whispers hui jia ba
(English: come back home)


Ribbons, 7:4, Winter 2011

An Epigram

Emptiness peddles goods from door to door

Sketchbook, 6:6, November/December 2011

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Christmas Haiku

Christmas Eve …
a wooden Jesus
and its shadow


Modern Haiku, 43:1, Feb., 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Snow Tanka

my heart
weighted by the desire
to be young
and live at night . . .
snow falling upon snow


Haiku Canada Review, Winter/Spring 2012

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Award-Winning Haiku

In memory of my friend and teacher, Paul Crudden

The Editors and Web Master of The Heron's Nest just announced "the results of the Readers' Choice Awards for favorite poems and poets featured in Volume XIII, 2011...We published poems by 250 poets during 2011 and the average total points for combined works this year was 15."

I received the following two awards:

1 Grand Prize: POEM OF THE YEAR (13 nominations, totaling 89 points)

a deceased friend
taps me on the shoulder -
plum blossoms falling
 

(anthologized in Nest Feathers: Selected Haiku from the first 15 years of The Heron’s Nest, 2015)

2 First Runner-up as Poet of the Year
(17 nominations, naming 3 of 3 poems published = 110 points)

Note: My poem was dedicated to my Canadian friend, Paul Crudden.

I was told by my editor, Fay Aoyagi, that The Heron's Nest doesn't print “dedication" except for the special section; therefore "for Paul Crudden" was omitted.

Eight years ago, I met Paul at a long-term care center as a Friendly Visitor. His illness made him speak with difficulty, but it didn’t stop him from conversing. He constantly told me that “Chen-ou, don’t worry about your English. Both of us have speaking problems, but many people around us have listening problems.”

Paul's acceptance and encouragement made the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms relevant to me. He passed away on Oct., 30, 2005. Two years later, I received my Canadian citizenship.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Star Haiku

For Whitney Houston

starless night...
I Will Always Love You
on the radio


The Globe and Mail

Snow Haiku

In Memory of Whitney Houston (August 9, 1963 -- February 11, 2012)

snowflakes drifting...
I dust I Look to You
once again


The Globe and Mail

Note: Whitney Houston accepted an accolade at the American Music Awards in 2009, the year she released “I Look to You,” the seventh and last studio album.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Haiku

for Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870)

Charles Dickens

in a bookstore window...
homeless youth's gaze


World Kigo Database

Love Haiku

Love River...
she and I ankle-deep
in stars


Prize Poem and the Asahi Haikuist Network (Feb. 17th, 2012)

Note: The Love River or Ai River is a river in southern Taiwan, known as a romantic place for couples to explore and relax

Blossom Haiku

falling blossoms…
her last laugh
in my laughter


Prize Poem

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Love in a Foreign Land: A Haiku Sequence

April rain...
chasing memories
of my dream

love-in-a-mist...
is there a way back
for both of us?

one star
between bare branches . . .
thoughts of home

standing where
she left for the south...
carved names in snow


Lynx, XXVII:1, February, 2012

Moon Monostich

a heart-to-heart talk with midnight moon

Sketchbook, 6:6, November/December 2011