Selected Tanka Sequence: The Same Old Story

first sunlight
after Valentine's Day
her heart
beating against mine
in a cheap motel room

her departing words
each star has its own journey
linger with me...
the mouth of darkness swallows
our summer stars and her

in twilight
rustling maple leaves
have a voice
that answers the storm
I murmur, what am I?

returned mail
from my ex-girlfriend
piles up...
flakes of thought drifting
in a world of one color

New Year's cleanup...
finding her wadded-up bra
under the bed
at last I breathe in
the smell of her betrayal

Red Lights, 9:1, January 2013

Selected Tanka: Ghosts of the Past Tanka

I lock myself
in the attic for days
ghosts of the past
hammering on the door
of my immigrant heart

Red Lights, 8:2, 2012

Selected Tanka: Stone Buddha Tanka

nostalgia
comes on little cat feet
sitting beside me
it practices zazen
like a stone Buddha

red lights, June 2011

Selected Tanka: Mouth Tanka

for Samuel Beckett

speaking before
native English speakers
I am
the mouth in Not I
opening and closing

red lights, June 2011

The Echoes, A Tanka Sequence

waking alone
from the talk with the girl
I met
in childhood dreams
church bells echo from afar

chants
of the ninety-nine percent
echo from afar --
counting winter stars
in my attic window

being a poet
how do you put food
on the table?
her words echo from afar
breaking this moonlit night

Red Lights, 9:2, July 2013

A Tanka about July First Fireworks

July first fireworks...
is there one among those stars
that guides my life
through this unknown
land of the maple leaf

Red Lights, 9:2, July 2013

The Same Old Story: A Tanka Sequence

first sunlight
after Valentine's Day
her heart
beating against mine
in a cheap motel room

her departing words
each star has its own journey
linger with me...
the mouth of darkness swallows
our summer stars and her

in twilight
rustling maple leaves
have a voice
that answers the storm
I murmur, what am I?

returned mail
from my ex-girlfriend
piles up...
flakes of thought drifting
in a world of one color

New Year's cleanup...
finding her wadded-up bra
under the bed
at last I breathe in
the smell of her betrayal

Red Lights, 9:1, January 2013

Life in Exile: A Tanka Sequence

as night falls
loneliness and nostalgia
come along
I see the Taipei moon
hang low in the Ajax sky

ghosts of the past
hammering on the door
of my heart
I lock myself
in the attic room

scooping the moon
from a river of memories
once more
I fill the wine cup
and look for her face

red morning light
after the ninth autumn...
my life so far
as I gaze
deeper into the mirror

the silence
that is in monotony
also there
in my empty heartbeats...
the sound of falling blossoms

Red Lights, 8:2, 2012

Immigration Tanka

for Samuel Beckett

speaking before
native English speakers
I am
the mouth in Not I
opening and closing

Red Light, June 2011

Nostalgia Tanka

nostalgia
comes on little cat feet
sitting beside me
it practices zazen
like a stone Buddha

June 2011 issue of Red Lights