Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XIII

the 13th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

Mr. Lou
your foreign credentials ...
pinned by his white gaze
I'm just another immigrant
with black slanted eyes

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XII

the 12th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

click by click
I send out my resume
this breezy morning
blue-winged warblers
tweeting about spring

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing,XI

the 11th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

this attic reeks
of smoke, sweat, and beer...
I write
a resume in a language
my father can't read

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, X

the 10th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

alone
on Chinese New Year
I raise my glass
to invite the bright moon
... a party of three

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, IX

the 9th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

roof icicles
hold the first morning sun
present
becoming past
becoming future

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, VIII

the 8th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

my English words
nothing's wrong, I'm fine
slip into
our phone conversation...
Mother's ocean-wide silence

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, VII

the 7th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

the Dear John letter
morphs into a plane
this cold night
my shadow and I
ride the tandem bike home

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, VI

the 6th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

red question mark
added to the title
of my last essay,
We Are All Immigrants:
The Past as a Foreign Country

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, V

the 5th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

inner émigré
rolling off my tongue...
the professor's
right eye flickers
in a long shadow

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, IV

the 4th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

to me, time is
an endless stream of thens
I turn away
from this new Canadian
to avoid his gaze

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, III

the third tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

English teacher said
Just wipe "I used to be...."
out of your mind
walking home alone
face-to-face with falling snow

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, II

the second tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

Mom once said
foreign moon bigger
than ours...
the harvest moon hangs high
between Pacific shores

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, I

the first tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences

a new immigrant
in the land of Snow White
I practice
A,B,C... by talking
to the bathroom mirror

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Glass Tower Tanka

Taipei 101
an iconic glass tower
dominates
its misty landscape...
the homeless man looking high

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Taste of My Childhood Tanka

daikon peeled,
pork belly washed and salted,
carrots chopped...
the taste of my childhood
in a Toronto kitchen

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Missing Child Poster Tanka

missing child poster
on the telephone pole...
hand in hand
couples walk this busy street
on a starry night

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Raven Haiku

blinds flapping
out of the spring sky
a raven's caw

Wednesday Haiku #123, July 10, 2013

Color of Loneliness Tanka

a migrant worker
asks me, what is the color
of loneliness
the silence between us
darkening this snowy day

Ribbons, 9:1, Spring/Summer 2013

River of Return Tanka

her last cry
My son! Why did you do this...
fades into the sky
can the cuckoo's call stretch
across the river of no return

Ribbons, 9:1, Spring 2013

The Nature of Poetic Truth, A Haiku Sequence

oh, so, you're a poet
the aftertaste
of her words

where is your Howl?
this odor
of impending death

drifting snowflakes...
your poem, a bit of this
and a bit of that

NeverEnding Story, July 4, 2013

A Tanka about the Welfare Office

at the end
of a long, shuffling line
outside
the welfare office
a boy holds his turtle

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

A Tanka about Mr. Right

don't call me
you're not my Mr. Right...
from the phone
the sound of her knife
hitting the cutting board

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

Pomegranate Haiku

the pomegranate cut in two my winter

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

Homecoming Haiku

first homecoming …
the silence lengthened
tree by tree

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

Winter Rain Haiku

winter rain
I fall asleep
holding myself

A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

Border fence Tanka

a mother's hands
reach out to her children
through the bars
of a fence that divides
Mexico from Arizona

NeverEnding Story, June 28, 2013

Silence Haiku

long way home ...
windshield wipers clear
the silence between us 

Japanese Translation by 万里小路

ワイパーが
　　　沈黙払う
長い帰路　　　

Distinguished Work Prize, 5th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum Haiku Contest

Burial Plots Tanka

nostalgic for things
that haven't happened yet...
at twilight
my dog and I stand beside
two new burial plots 

Mandy's Pages, June 24, 2013

Love Letter Tanka

a love letter
found in the false wall
of her basement . . .
a dull ache
in my groin area

Fire Pearls 2 : Short Masterpieces of Love and Passion, 2013

Suicide Tanka

alone in his room
I hear a distant echo . . .
facing an oncoming train
he cried out loud
I want to go back home

Fire Pearls 2 : Short Masterpieces of Love and Passion, 2013