Beginning of the End

in dim lamplight

my wife murmurs, "I'm scared

of not knowing you:

you never sleep talk in English

you only dream in Chinese"

these weather swings

from record warmth to cold front

to snowfall ....

the weight of our silence

on the journey to a new life

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, December 10, 2023

New Life in the Land of the Maple Leaf

“Name, country of birth, place of birth, date of birth, sex, marital status,”  the Immigration Officer fires out question after question, trying to define the borders of my lifescape.  He wants to confine me to a statistically recognizable category: immigrant.

after one stopover

and twenty hours of flying 

in Toronto streets

I walk with newly ascribed roles:

immigrant and Chinese

contemporary haibun online, 18:3, 2022

Writing Tanka

abandoned, Chinese
ideograms constantly groan
at the door
of my heart, I think of them
while writing poems in English

Gusts, #11

Geese Tanka

wild geese
fly against the sky --
the Chinese word
in faint ink
for human
Spring 2010 issue of Ribbons

Note: The shape of the flight pattern of geese is similar to the Chinese word for "human" (人)