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

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Black Sheep of God

at a revival
people slain in the Spirit
rising and falling
on the wooden stage
as I retreat into myself

beads of sweat 
gather on my forehead ...
people around me
pray in tongues like Morse code 
to the God I've lost touch with

unshackled 
from my childhood beliefs
I'm a passing thought
in the mind of God
who forsook his son on the cross



Added:

the pastor warns,
a life without Christ leads 
to the abyss
of boredom and death ...
his [gay] son and I know it well

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

my Christian friend 
fought a tough civil war
against his gayness ...
his mother who never fought him
now sets out to fight her world


Chen-ou Liu


AddedGame Show 2024, XXIII

indicted, again ...
a stray answers the cries
from my neighbor
with the supersized yard sign
Trump, Take America Back! 

Note: This tanka is a sequel to the following one about Trump's first indictment:

Game Show 2024, XVII

S.U.V. motorcade
to Trump-branded airplane
to S.U.V. motorcade 
to Trump Hotel and Tower ...
next, he's fingerprinted and charged



FYI: HuffPost, June 9: "New York Daily News Sums Up Donald Trump's Latest Legal Woe With 2 Words And A Comma."

And The Nation, June 9: "The Criminal Delusions of Donald Trump: The former president faces seven federal criminal counts—and there are more to come. But the law won’t stop Trump from lying to himself."