Earth Hour Haiku

Earth Hour Party:
my niece begins to lose
count of the stars


Published in The Globe and Mail (March 31st, 2012);
Reprinted in The Toronto Star & the World Kigo Database

Dewdrop Haiku

sunlit dewdrops
on the morning glory
here and now, and yet...


Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Dream Haiku

apple blossoms
cascade through the dream . ..
her scent on me

Published on the Asahi Haikuist Network (March 29, 2012)

Dream Haiku

it's a dream and yet...
the mermaid with dark hair
diving into the wreck

Published on the World Kigo Database
Reprinted on Rabble

Note: Adrienne Rich, one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century, died on Tuesday at her home. As Margalit Fox rightly emphasized in his New York Times article , Rich brought "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century."

Poetry is not a healing lotion, an emotional massage, a kind of linguistic aromatherapy.

--Adrienne Rich

Snow Haiku

a black boy
in a pool of blood
first snowflakes

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Spring Haiku

a wisp of cloud
drifting across the spring moon –
unsigned divorce papers

Published on Prize Poem

Spring Haiku

spring equinox:
I play the game of hangman
with my shadow

Published on Prize Poem

A Haiku

blazing sunshine
her body adorned
with Klimt's The Kiss

Published on the World Kigo Database

Note: 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Klimt. His work is in/famously known for "frank eroticism," and his primary subject was the female body. Today, Cologne is the first of 150 cities in which Morales-de la Cruz plans to present great art on nude women.

Winter Haiku

dead end alley...
the winter moon
and one howl

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Snow Haiku

long way home
I tell the secret
to falling snow

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Following the Moon to the Maple Land

Welcome to Canada.
Name: Chen-ou Liu (phonic);
Country of Birth: R.O.C.;
(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan)
Place of Birth; Date of Birth; Sex;
simply more technocratic questions
the Immigration Officer needs to pin down my borders.
He is always looking for shortcuts,
more interested in the roadside signposts
than in the landscapes that have made me.
The line he wants me confined to
is an analytically recognizable category:
landed immigrant. My history is meticulously stamped.
Now, you're legally a landed immigrant.
Take a copy of A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada. 1


Published in Broken/Breaking English: Selected Short Poems


Note:

1 A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada was written and issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to give new immigrants helpful information for planning ahead, but it is not a detailed guide. For more information, they will be given another book called Welcome to Canada: What You Should Know. It contains specific information on all the practical aspects of living in Canada.

I Become the One Who Forgets His Dream Song: A Haibun

For John Berryman

solstice...
counting snowflakes
on the window

There are two voices fighting for the control of my mind. One says, “Just keep writing,” and I ask, “writing for whom?” The other whispers in the dark, “for the dead whom you did love.”

first light . . .
my copy of The Middle Way
dog-eared

I start to spin the poems of darkness out of falling snow.

Published in Contemporary Haibun Online, 8:1, April 2012
Anthologized in Contemporary Haibun, Vol. 14 (2013)

Breath: A Haibun

slanted sunlight
through the window
reading jisei

My father doesn't talk about death because he cares more about leaving behind a good reputation. My mother is skilled at evading death-talk because she is afraid of severing the ties with her loved ones. My older brother doesn’t care about death because he thinks he is strong enough to face all challenges head on and head strong. My younger brother doesn’t mention death at all because he is busy enjoying life, here and now. I often think about death

first sunrise…
pulling out a patch
of gray hair

Published in Contemporary Haibun Online, 8:1, April 2012

Snow Haiku

snow flurries...
a tall black homeless man
holding out his hand

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

A Haiku

blood moon...
a scream cut off
in the middle

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Broken/Breaking English: Selected Short Poems, is now available through Lulu .

eBook, 61 Pages, Price: $7.00
A Room of My Own Press, c2012.
ISBN: 978-0-9868947-1-8

Autumn Haiku

autumn dusk
writing "let go" ten times
in the sand



Published in Kokako 16, April 2012

A Haiku

a stone angel
in the shadow of the church
a girl in black

Published in Kokako 16, April 2012

The Last Gaze: A Haibun

Slanting through the attic window, a ray of sunlight touches my coffee-stained desk.

I look out at the maple branches swaying in the breeze. From nowhere, I feel the stab of a memory -- you waving me goodbye.

mid-autumn moon...
the sound of the wind
colder


Published in Kokako 16, April 2012

Winter Haiku

leaden sky...
his Jack-o’-lantern glowing
for the third day

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

A Haiku Noir

the white dress
slithers along the ground...
a raven's call


Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, January/February 2012

Dew Haiku

For the People of Japan

March 11...
morning sunlight
in dew drops


Published on the World Kigo Database

Dream Haiku

one skipping stone
after another…
childhood dreams

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, "precious stones" Haiku Thread, January / February 2012
(Editor's Choice Haiku)

New Year Haiku

first sunrise
a thin layer of dust
on my good-luck stone

Published in Sketchbook, 7:1, "precious stones" Haiku Thread, January / February 2012
(Editor's Choice Haiku)

Editor's comment:

Seneca said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  The users of these stones might have believed otherwise about the preparation required:

Crow Haiku

a crow's cry...
the village stillness
deepens


Published in Shamrock, 21, Spring 2012

Autumn Haiku

job interview
falling leaves
with every step


Published in Shamrock, 21, Spring 2012

Life and Death in Toronto: A Haibun

Sitting there, pale with dark circles under her eyes, she says, "The morning and late at night are the hardest… so I take a long walk, clean the house… sometimes twice a day, I even go to the mall doing window shopping, oh, John hated coming with me." Then she chuckles, an odd, stilted sound.

she walks alone
behind the flag-draped casket…
summer clouds


Published in A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012

Zen Senryu

mindful eating:
is this grain of rice
bigger than that


Published in Haiku News, 1:8, March 2012

Relationship Tanka

she gave me
every reason under the stars
except the real one . . .
her smile frozen forever
in our honeymoon photo


Published in A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012

Love Tanka

a black moth
flutters around the desk lamp
trying to find
a way through the Tiffany shade . . .
I yearn for the flames of love


Published in A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012

Doll Haiku

morning sun
opening their eyes
hina dolls


Published in the Asahi Haikuist Network, March 2nd, 2012

Snow Haiku

her laugh echoes
through the empty house —
the sound of snow


Published in A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012