Life-Dream Expanse Tanka

one night I’m in Ajax            

the next I’m in Taipei ...

these leaps 

of time, space and language

across this life-dream expanse 

Ribbons, 19:2, Spring/Summer 2023

FYI: This is the concluding tanka of my tanka set, "An Immigrant in the Homeland of Dreams."

Memory Tanka

memory believes
before knowing remembers ...
Taiwan's plum rain
falling through the ceiling
of my Ajax attic

Cattails, 1, December 2013

If on an Autumn’s Night a Sojourner, A Haiku Sequence

written on the night of the Chinese Moon Festival

walking aimlessly
Taipei moonlight
in Ajax streets

a home
away from home
harvest moon

moon viewing
a long shadow
beside me

tenth autumn...
tonight's moon not like
the one back home

NeverEnding Story, September 19, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXXIX

the 39th tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences


Taiwan moon
low in the Ajax sky
the weight
of my nostalgia
measured in snowdrifts

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXXI

the 31st tanka in the sequence about diasporic experiences


Ajax night
and Taipei morning...
New Year's blue moon
in the bedroom window
of my childhood house

Atlas Poetica, 15, 2013

A Tanka about Ajax and Taipei

ten years gone ...
is the harvest moon
in the Ajax sky
the same moon
hanging over Taipei?

PoemHunter, May 31, 2013

Autumn Moon Tanka

that autumn moon
full when we met in Taipei
is half-covered
in dark clouds...
alone under Ajax sky

Ribbons, 8:2, Fall 2012

A Tanka

long day's work...
the Chinese takeout brings
the steamy smell
from Mom's Taiwan kitchen
to my Ajax attic

Sketchbook, 6:5, September/October 2011

Nostalgia Tanka

lone shadow
on the attic floor --
Taipei moon
hangs high
in the Ajax sky

Haiku Pix Review, #3, Summer 2011

Moon Haiku

Taiwan’s moon
hangs in Ajax sky...the scent
on mother's apron

May/June 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Nostalgia Tanka

at night
I sleep in Taipei
but wake up in Ajax --
closing and opening
my eyes, two lives

Presence, 41

Haiku on Nostalgia

sleep in Taipei
but wake in Ajax...
autumn dawn

March/April, 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Moon Tanka

gazing up
at the moon over Ajax
I realize
it's bigger than
the one Li Po wrote of

Autumn 2009 issue of Simply Haiku

Nostalgia Tanka

Taipei dreams
Ajax eyes waken --
my mind drifts
winged and yearning
for things not yet lost

Gusts, #9

Canadian Experience (Tanka Sequence)

piece by piece
I packed 40 years of life
into 60 boxes
once in Canada
they fill an Ajax attic

the crescent moon
shines over Ajax
my nostalgia
hangs
on its lower tip

my sleepless eyes
peeking through the blinds
massage
the moonlit lane
under autumn nights

time is signed
on the debris
of memories—
morning in Ajax
I live Taipei’s nightlife

your sunny face
smiling at me
in my drink—
like Ho Yi
I take nine shots

(Note: Ho Yi, a legendary Chinese hero, comes to earth to shoot down nine of the ten suns that are burning up the earth at the same time)

the autumn moon
over Ajax rooftops
hangs also above
Taiwan's fields—
rice grains falling

I met her
in an airport
we talked openly
as if we'd been stranded
on an desert island

Taiwan was safe
in my heart
years later I opened it
over the Pacific –
a worn map

on a moonless night
as I left for Canada
you gave me oranges
every now and again
Taiwan orange hangs in the sky

Canadian dream
locks me in the attic
even during the day . . .
no good time for sex
because I sleep with winter

my little brother
stands at full attention
for the first time—
no Canadian experience
needed when writing poems 
(Note: In Canada, every new immigrant knows what the term "Canadian Experience" means for them. The discrimination against foreign sources of human capital places immigrants at a considerable disadvantage in the labour market. No Canadian experience, no job; no job, no Canadian experience)

when being shouted at
go back where you came from
the gray wings
of the Canada goose
skim my heart

side by side
our dictionaries
French-English
and Chinese-English—
exchange of solitudes

bathed in sunshine
outside a laundry store
in Ajax, I smell
the scent of clothes
on wash lines in Taipei

Atlas Poetica, #5