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

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Gunshot Haiku

There are literally two Americas. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

a flurry of white ...
a black man shot in the back
as he runs


Note: "There are literally two Americas," the joshi ("prefatory note" functioning as a poetic device), is taken from Dr. King's speech  made at Stanford University in 1967, a year before his assassination.

Every Poem an Epitaph

a solo somonka in response to Albert Camus's remark:
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. --  An Absurd Reasoning

published poet,
a shaman or just a shame ...

unemployed
I crawl into a hole and wait
for the last breath

destroy, destroy, ...
hums my unconscious --
the God of Job
refuses to hear the hum
while killing my ten poems

NeverEnding Story, April 7 2015

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Morning Breeze Tanka

the morning breeze
turns maple leaves to song . . .
alone at the window
I hear how Mother's words
come home have aged

Revision, Skylark 3:1, Summer 2015

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Shingled House Tanka

a shingled house
this small patch of Canada
to which I lay claim --
in a corner of my mind
Ilha Formosa echoes

Skylark 3:1, Summer 2015

Note: In 1544, a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it "Ilha Formosa," which means “Beautiful Island.”

Monday, April 27, 2015

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Any Difference?, A Haibun

leaves falling
one begging bowl
and a dog

on Progress Avenue at noon men and women in suits walk at a quick pace thus the indifference to the homeless John Doe can’t remember the human faces moving past thus the indifference toward humanity and yet ...

German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

Irgendein Unterschied?

Blätter fallen
eine Bettelschale
und ein Hund

auf der Fortschritt-Allee zur Mittagszeit Männer und Frauen in Anzügen mit schnellem Schritt deshalb die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber dem Obdachlosen Otto Namenlos erinnert sich nicht an die schnell vorbeiziehenden Gesichter und deshalb die Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber der Menschlichkeit und doch …

Chrysanthemum 17, April 2015

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Lingering Scent Tanka

I bury my face
in the curve
of her breasts
the lingering scent
after spring rain


German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

ich vergrabe mein Gesicht
in der Beuge
ihrer Brüste
der anhaltende Duft
nach dem Frühlingsregen

Chrysanthemum 17, April 2015

Friday, April 24, 2015

Leaf Haiku

a leaf 
drifting at twilight
new immigrant

German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

ein Blatt
schwebt im Zwielicht ...
neuer Einwanderer

Chrysanthemum 17, April 2015

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Starless Night Haiku

alone
this starless night
tasting black

German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

einsam
diese sternlose Nacht
schmeckt schwarz


Chrysanthemum 17, April 2015

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Studio Apartment Tanka

she tells me,
I just found
a studio apartment ...

the eyes I love most
focus somewhere else

Hedgerow, 24, April 10 2015

Useless Poet Tanka

held by her words
You're a useless poet ...
I walk out,
slamming the door
behind my old self

Hedgerow, 24, April 10 2015

Monday, April 20, 2015

Nagging Voice Tanka

on the shelf
Selected Poems by Chen-ou Liu
a nagging voice
at the back of my mind
says, is that all there is?

Hedgerow, 24, April 10 2015

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Winter Mist Haiku

winter mist …
bookmarking a moment
with this haiku

Haiku Special, 3rd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest 2014.
Featured in Akita – the Land of Poetry, 6 and Whispers, April 11 2015

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Monday, April 13, 2015

First Date Tanka

on the first date
I repeat I'm a poet
in a monotone ...
time slowly stretches out
turning to rubber

Gusts, 21, Spring/Summer 2015

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Walmart smile Tanka

a former teacher,
now I wear a Walmart smile--
the chorus
murmuring in my head
you still have your poetry

Gusts, 21, Spring/Summer 2015

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Birthday Morning Haiku

birthday morning
the tussle of dark and light
on remaining leaves

Romanian Translation by Corneliu Traina

dimineata zilei de nastere
încăierarea întunericului si luminii
pe frunzele rămase

2015 Sharpening The Green Pencil Haiku Anthology

Friday, April 10, 2015

Hissing TV Haiku

TV hissing ...
a strip of moonlight
on her body

2015 Moon Anthology

Heart-Shaped Box Tanka

a young couple
in a patch of moonlight
sharing chocolate 
from a heart-shaped box ...
face to face with my shadow

Revision, 2015 Moon Anthology

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Dinner Call Tanka

Mom's dinner call
echoes down memory lane --
on New Year's Eve
facing a crescent moon
I eat alone again

2015 Moon Anthology

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Old Wound, A Tanka Sequence

first winter light ...
the snake of my desire
for the past
lies coiled around
the base of my spine

an immigrant
living on the winter land
of nostalgia:
the past is my home
although it’s lost

I hear
the siren singing
Home, Sweet Home ...
a part of me
jumps off the cliff

Chinese New Year
on the TV screen ...
I whisper of home
in a voice
now foreign to me


NeverEnding Story, March 20, 2015

Monday, April 6, 2015

Tree Bark Haiku

after our divorce
tendrils of morning glory
cling to the tree bark


Acorn, #34, 2015

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Will Spring Come Again? A Haiku Sequence

her bookmark
divides The Art of Love --
living apart

moving day ...
in her throwaway pile
my first chapbook

snow angel --
the touch of her lips
cold in my memory

Hedgerow, 23, April 3 2015

Friday, April 3, 2015

The Pain from an Old Wound, A Tanka Prose

standing still
on the opposite shores
of the Pacific
in a dream ...
youthful Mother and aging me

When I was young, homesickness was a long cable line:
me on one end, Mother on the other.
When I grew up, homesickness was a three-sheet letter:
an hour’s labor, written and folded with care.
But later on, homesickness was reduced to $3 plus tax:
a seasonal greeting card.
Now, homesickness is a surging sea:
me in this Promised Land, Mother on a crowded island.

drifting in a dream
turned into a bird
flying over the Pacific --
I open my eyes
upon darkness again


Kokako, 22 April, 2015

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Those Three Words Tanka

I whisper
those three words in her ear
again and again
with each word, she draws
further into herself

Kokako, 22 April, 2015

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Slippers Haiku

first day of  winter
I step on the slippers
my ex left behind


Kokako, 22 April, 2015