Black Spot Tanka

a dark spot

on the winter moon

back again

from the hospital

my wife says nothing

Third Place, Mandy's Pages Annual Tanka Contest, 2018

Judge's Report by Shrikaanth K. Murthy: Another powerful poem that transposes the dark spot from the moon to the uncertainty the future holds. Why does the wife say nothing? Is it because the truth is too disturbing to digest? Or is it to protect the husband? Clearly, this isn’t the first time this has happened. A nice backstory to it that is left to the reader to fill in. Tanka sing stories, and they also offer lot of contemplative space to the reader.

Female Body and Moonlight Tanka

her body
stretched out on the sand
with moonlight
slanting across her breasts ...
she looks at me, me alone

NeverEnding Story, July 27, 2018

Confession

old bartender
gone with the bar . . .
on the way home
thirsty for the things
I’ve never had

a glass
and a bottle of wine
in the dawnlight
alone
with my demons

Atlas Poetica, 33, 2018

Selected Haibun: A Woman Who Enjoys Reading Orlando

first kiss --

behind the bookshelf

her scent lingers

Her parting words scribbled in pencil on the back of a transfer ticket:

Elizabeth and I finally enter the caves -- warm, damp, and fold upon fold -- that are bigger than your mind can hold. With my mouth, I swallow her and myself ...

Alone on the road to our favorite beach. It twists along the edge of the ragged coastline.

waves lapping  ...

that night her fingers

caressed me

Modern Haiku, 45:3, Autumn 2014

Selected Tanka: Love-Making Scene Tanka

on the screen
the love-making scene
fades to black ...
I see summer stars
in my lost love's eyes

Kokako, 21, October 2014

Selected Haiku: Stare of a Newborn Haiku

the stare
of a newborn ...
starry night

Acorn, 33, October 2014

Diamond Ring Tanka

down on one knee
with a diamond ring
I wait ...
in the cloudy sky
starlings shape-shifting

Ribbons, 14:2, Spring/Summer 2018

Child Refugee Tanka

the breeze
scented with a hint
of spring ...
the face of a child refugee
wreathed in smiles

Ribbons, 14:2, Spring/Summer 2018

Fire and Fury

white house briefing
a mouth that opens
and closes

white house guards
living from one fake news
to another

Prune Juice, July 2018

Penetrating Silence Haiku

a high school girl
bites her lower lip ...
penetrating silence

NeverEnding Story,  July 22, 2018

Selected Tanka: Parrot Tanka

I sit alone
on New Year’s morning
the parrot
articulating
the snowy silence

Bright Stars, V, 2014

Selected Tanka: Revolving Door Tanka

an old man
in ragged clothes
engaging
in cagy combat
with a revolving door

Bright Stars, V, 2014

Selected Tanka: Playboy and IKEA Tanka

my classmate
used to sit in the bathroom
with Playboy ...
now feasts his eyes
on the IKEA catalogue

Bright Stars, V, 2014

Selected Tanka Prose: A Portrait of the Poet as an Immigrant

Drunk on moonlight from Taipei I stand alone under the Toronto sky.

My mind is schizophrenic, but my hand is steady as I pursue a would-be poem on this wintry night.

my anguish

crumpled into a ball  ,,,

I keep writing

as the wastebasket waits

for another throw

Sunlight drifts through the window and settles on the worn cover of A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary. My heart, that lonely hunter, seeks the page where the odor of words is strongest.

every day

tastes a little

different

my hunger for words

to picture a poet

Haibun Today, 8:3, September 2014

Selected Haiku: Southbound Geese Haiku

southbound geese  ...
I left home
to find home

Revision, The Heron’s Nest, 16:3, September 2014

Canada Day Fireworks Tanka

Canada Day fireworks --
this roller coaster ride
of emotions
up, down, and up again
to reach my immigrant dream

Kokako, 28, 2018

Homing Pigeons Haiku

homing pigeons ...
I've become a stranger
in the land I left

Kokako, 28, 2018

Marriage License Haiku

deepening winter
Father's marriage license
split at the folds

Kokako, 28, 2018

Selected Haibun: I Am a Poet Nevertheless

if you die poor and young,
your poems may be worth something ...
her dimpled smile

After she left me for a man with a 9 to 5 job, I say to myself, at least I have two loyal readers: my drunken shadow and the black hooded man holding a scythe.

Haibun Today, 8:3, September 2014

Selected Haiku: Mist Haiku

mist trailing
over the autumn fields ...
a raven's cry

Brass Bell, 4, July 2014