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

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Fire Poppies Haiku

months after the fire
these hills blowing with poppies!
fire poppies ablaze


FYI: Papaver californicum, a species of poppy known by its common name fire poppy, only grows on the heels of major fires.   

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

3 A.M. Crescent Haiku

3 a.m. crescent
in the bedroom skylight 
dust motes drift



FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel to mine below:

again her smile fades ...
I awaken to the silence
of a hazy crescent



Added:

bed unmade
I lie down beside
the hidden self


Added:

mail on the table
I read it twice, once in mind 
a week ago


Added:

a baseball bat
beside chained tires in the yard 
foreclosure tilted


FYI: This haiku could be read as a sequel to the following:

fence line 
crowded with baseball caps
World Series eve


crack of the bat
a roar of voices chasing
the sky-high ball



Added: Politics of Distraction, X:

waking in cold sweat
from dreams of a strait blockade:
the liar arrives
to save the strangled victim
by pressing down the pillow


FYI: Trump stated on Truth Social: If Iran did not agree to a deal, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before ... (BBC News, May10)

And his tanka is a sequel to the following:

Politics of Distraction, IX:

blocking the blockade
to break the strait blockade ...
in gathering dark
a gin-soaked flight to nowhere
through the un/truth of this war

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

River Trail Tanka

Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IV

silver moonlight 
drips through weeping willow leaves
the river trail  reeks 
where a stray rips the throat
from a bag of rotting guts



Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, V

the milky way 
floats in the midlight river --
one yellow stream
arcs higher than the other
while two drunks shout and laugh


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VI

the warbler’s wail
ripples through the morning mist --
the screech of brakes
as a truck grinds to a stop
inches from the toddler


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VII

the moonlit creek
chatters over mossy rocks
the drainage pipe 
spewing vomit after vomit
of neon-blue factory sludge


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, VIII

fields of wheat
rippling in morning sunshine
roadside billboards
hawk cheap loans and debt swaps
to the hollow-eyed and aged


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, IX

morning mist
veiling the river’s curve ...
the bridge traffic stops
as a rusted semi-truck 
grinds a stray into pulp

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Park Dump Tanka

Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, I

cherry blossom rain ...
under a grey-veined sky
the park dump
with needles scattered
in mangy green



FYI: My new writing project, Starlight on the Gutter of Blossoms, applies the violent lens of the urban onihishigitei style to the modern landscape. Inspired by Christine Judd’s "neon lights" tanka, the title hijacks Oscar Wilde’s romanticism—"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"—and forces that celestial gaze down into the city’s filth to "slay" traditional beauty.


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, II

summer stars
drip silver light on the river -- 
slick after slick
of oily black choking
the throat of a storm drain


Added: Starlight on the Gutter of  Blossoms, III

the wisteria scent
in cascading clusters --
moonlit shards
from a smashed windshield
in the asphalt's teeth

Monday, May 4, 2026

Sunday, May 3, 2026

Home, Sweet Home Haiku

home, sweet home ...
in my rear window snow geese
unzip the sunset glow



FYI: "'Home Sweet Home" was first released in 1985 as a single from Mötley Crüe's third studio album, Theatre of Pain.

Friday, May 1, 2026

Writing Gembun

The blank calendar; even thoughts paused like a frozen screen.

the cursor blinks ...
the weight of another
hazy day moon



FYI: My haiku below could be read as a sequel:

hazy day moon 
alone, awake with the weight
of memory



Added: a gembun, about the precarious "work-life," for May Day:

The fan oscillates, its hum a steady heartbeat in the cramped dark.

dust motes
in the slanted moonlight
life between motels

Thursday, April 30, 2026

Cherry Blossom Dawn Haiku

cherry blossom dawn
my beagle and I bathed
in the scent of light



Added:

breezy sunshine
bumblebees stitch gold threads
among blossoms


FYI: This haiku could be read as a prequel to the following:

bumblebee flitting
among the meadow flowers
humming to itself

Haiga Moments: Pens and Lens, 2008

Ignatius Fay


Added:

blossom rain
my son takes a selfie
I breathe deeply


Added:

pick-your-own farm
my toddler’s lips and fingers
blue-stained


Added:

strawberry juice …
drip, drip from her tongue
into my mouth


Added:

garden hut
newborn kittens blink
into tulips


Added:

break of dawn
a wedge of geese honking
the northbound freight

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Eyes and Minds Tanka

we walk quietly
from the doctor’s room
into an elevator
our eyes and minds escape
into panel numbers

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Mockingbird's Song Tanka

written for Harper Lee’s 100th birthday

I climb inside
my MAGA neighbor's head
to see his world ...
a mockingbird's song
snaps in two through half-sleep



Note: In Ls 1-3, the speaker’s attempt to “climb inside / of my MAGA neighbor’s head” mirrors Atticus Finch’s ethic of radical empathy: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it,” which the tanka re-stages as a dreamlike, unstable act of perception.

And the following remark is in contrast to Ls 1-3's allusive one:

People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for, and they have a right to subject their children to it...

Judge Taylor, Chapter 17

Sunday, April 26, 2026