Selected Tanka: Eyeless Doll Tanka

sleepless again
looking at water stains
on the ceiling
I hug my loneliness
like an eyeless doll

A Hundred Gourds, 4:2, March 2015

Father's Absent Gaze Tanka

father's absent gaze ...
and yet
for brief moments
the warmth of his hand
touching my own

Gusts, 28, Autumn/Winter 2018

Blood Moon Tanka

blood moon
refracted
from shards of glass
and yet I remain
unchanged

Gusts, 28, Autumn/Winter 2018

Dry Drunk Senryu

the length
of my brother's shadow ...
a dry drunk

Failed Haiku, 3:33, 2018

Selected Tanka: Toronto and Chinese Self Tanka

Toronto settles
into a nocturnal rhythm ...
face to face
in the attic room
with my Chinese self

Haiku Canada Review, 9:1, February 2015

Dark Gaze Tanka

devoured
by your intense
dark gaze
I enter further
inside you

NeverEnding Story, September 28, 2018

Tug of War Senryu

tug of war over
I'm divorced at last
happily (n)ever after

Failed Haiku, 3:33, 2018

Family Gossip Senryu

the tangle
of weeping willows
family gossip

Failed Haiku, 3:33, 2018

Selected Tanka: Weight of Unspoken Words Tanka

first ESL class
on a snowy night
I struggled
under the weight
of unspoken words

Ribbons, 11:1, Winter 2015

Note: ESL stands for English as a Second Language.

Selected Haiku: Midnight Barking Haiku

midnight barking --
I turn up the volume
of my thoughts

Frogpond, 38:1, Winter 2015

Paper Anniversary Senryu

the wall of pillows
between my wife and me
paper anniversary

Failed Haiku, 3:33, 2018

Wedding Rehearsal Senryu

wedding rehearsal
a girl in red falls in love
with love

Failed Haiku, 3:33, 2018

Selected Tanka Prose: A Short Story about Love

at her window

two shadows entwine

in one embrace ...

like vampires sucking blood

from my memories

Sitting at my desk, swathed in darkness, I use the new telescope to zoom in on them – watch her rise and fall as the man guides her slow circular movements. His hands slide up from her hips to her breasts, continue to her shoulders, altering her rhythm, pulling her down onto him... 

I open the drawer, take out a pocket knife, rush down to the basement parking lot, and find his piercing red Jaguar. Crouching, I plunge the tip of the knife into one of his tires with climactic fierceness; then I stab and I stab...the second, third, and fourth.

I rip out

each page of our life

this sultry night

the dream soaks my bed

with her moaning

hedgerow, 12, December 12 2014

Ashen Sky Haiku

truth isn't truth
crows call and answer
across the ashen sky

NeverEnding Story,  September 22, 2018

Little Coffin Haiku

little coffin
the sound of the wind
even colder

Wales Haiku Journal, summer 2018

Surging Sea Haiku

surging sea      one dream away from mother

Wales Haiku Journal, summer 2018

Selected Kyoka: Lego-Brick Words Kyoka

crows on the fence
squawking like academics
at a conference
my Lego-brick words
collapse on the page

Atlas Poetica, 20, January 2015

Selected Haiku: Winter Solstice Haiku

winter solstice
I recycle my youth
in a dream

Brass Bell, December 2014

Selected Tanka: Soaking with Wet Light Tanka

the moon
soaking with wet light
our tangled clothes
on the sand ...
one star, then many

Atlas Poetica, 20, January 2015

Selected Tanka: Blindfolded Justice Tanka

blindfolded Justice
holding her scales and sword
in the square
row upon row of black men
chanting I can't breathe

PoemHunter, December 6, 2014