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

Friday, January 31, 2014

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Winter Haiku for Pete Seeger

If I Had a Hammer
on the car radio ...
shards of winter light



Note: Below is excerpted from the Wikipedia entry,Pete Seeger:

The song was first performed publicly by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays on June 3, 1949 at St. Nicholas Arena on W. 66th Street in New York at a testimonial dinner for the leaders of the Communist Party of the United States, who were then on trial in federal court, charged with violating the Smith Act by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government.... It was not particularly successful when it was first released, but  later it became a Freedom Song of the American Civil Rights movement.

Hopscotch Traces Haiku

hopscotch traces
on the driveway ...
foreclosed house


Lynx, 29:1, February 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

Study of Perspective

A Haiku Set for Ai Weiwei, China's Most Influential Artist / Dangerous Man (Whose perspective is it anyway ?)


What the hell is art?
Ai Weiwei
in the cooking pot
(reprint on Pen Canada)

sunlight on the photo:
his middle finger
against Tiananmen Square

NeverEnding Story, January 18, 2014

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Taiwan Moon Haiku

from Lake Ontario
I scoop the Taiwan moon
distant sirens

forthcoming in Per Diem, The Haiku Foundation

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Friday, January 24, 2014

Land of Opportunity, A Tanka Prose

headline news:
U. of T. Too Asian?
on my way
to another interview
maple leaves swirling

I stop at traffic lights, and see a Filipino nanny pushing a baby carriage. A second woman, walking in the opposite direction, pushes an old man in a wheelchair who is staring into space.

"Move, Chinaman. Get out of my way," a native English speaker yells at me.
 

Note: U. of T. stands for University of Toronto.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Snowflakes Haiku

Time is flying by
Dad's same old complain
scattering snowflakes.

Serbian translation by  Dragan Milenkovic

Vreme leti
Očeva zanovetanja
razbacuju snežne pahuljice

Japanorama, January, 2014

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Slanted Moonlight Tanka

for Basho and Heidegger

slanted moonlight
on The Essential Basho...
the ancients follow
behind us in our thinking
and yet they come to meet us

PoemHunter, Jan. 13, 2014

French Kiss Senryu

something like a slug
wriggling in my mouth:
first French kiss

Cattails, 1, December 2013

Monday, January 20, 2014

Memory Tanka

memory believes
before knowing remembers ...
Taiwan's plum rain
falling through the ceiling
of my Ajax attic

Cattails, 1, December 2013

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Museum Tanka

the full moon
over Memling Museum
twelve
unfinished black circles
in Verdier's wall painting

Cattails, 1, December 2013

Note: Fabienne Verdier is a contemporary French painter, known for her expertise with Chinese ink techniques

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Tale of Two Laredos, A Haibun

The fireman from Nuevo Laredo looks at the body, muttering, “This is the 6ooth body I’ve pulled out of the Rio Grande.” There is noisy silence between the two of us as I turn and see a long line of trucks crossing into Texas.  We continue to make our way downriver and, upon turning a bend, I see a boy and his dog caught in branches at the river’s edge.
   
one howl, then many …
the imprint of an eagle
on the winter sky


Cattails, 1, December 2013

Poetry Reading Tanka

snowy on snow ...
after the poetry reading
I walk for hours
like a man
with someplace to go

Paper Wasp, 19:4, Summer 2013

Monday, January 13, 2014

Relationship Tanka

my wife proofreads
with an arsenal
of colored pencils
I stare into the white glow
of my laptop screen


Revision, Paper Wasp, 19:4, Summer 2013

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Crumbs Haiku

summer breeze
a sparrow takes crumbs
from a beggar's hand

Paper Wasp, 19:4, Summer 2013

Hide-and-Seek Haiku

end of summer ...
the child plays hide-and-seek
with his shadow

Paper Wasp, 19:4, Summer 2013

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Friday, January 10, 2014

The Past Is A Foreign Country

hometown memories
wrapped in shared privacy
the old dog and I

now in Taipei
and dreaming of Taipei...
first hometown visit

a spider web
in winter sunlight
threads of memory 

NeverEnding Story, December 22, 2013

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Wall Clock Tanka

slanted sunlight on
The Persistence of Memory
the wall clock
ticks toward tomorrow
my heart chained to the past

The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Dreamer Tanka

you're a dreamer
without your own dream
said my father ...
I was forced to wear pink
for wetting the bed

The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Giant Cross Tanka

a giant cross
against the sunset sky
on the hill...
an old man and his dog wait
at the fork in a road

The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Teardrops Tanka

one by one
teardrops stream down
her face
in the moon
in the icicle

The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Monday, January 6, 2014

Pension Office Tanka

a long line
of people waiting outside
a pension office
snakes along slowly ...
swirl of maple leaves

The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Sunday, January 5, 2014

A Tanka about Poetry Handbook

I peer over
the top of Poetry Handbook
at a cold moon ...
the muse and I live
together alone for years


Revision The Bamboo Hunt, 2, 2013

Saturday, January 4, 2014

One-Line Moon Haiku

For Cid Corman

the passage between day and dream moon haiku

Frogpond, 36:3, Autumn 2013

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Revelations, A New Year Haiku Set

the new year begins
with the same rising sun...
me in the mirror


(Serbian Translation
 

pocinje Nova Godina
s istim izlazecim suncem…
ja u ogledalu
 

New Year Haiku, Diogen, Jan. 1 2014)

New Year's morning dew...
old age happened to me
yesterday


NeverEnding Story, Jan. 1 2014

Snowman Haiku

what are
our original nature?

snowman and I

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine