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."

Old Boxed Set Tanka

old boxed set
of Marcel Proust
on the bed
my memory of Taipei
framed by an attic window

Atlas Poetica, 22, 2015

The Journey Itself Is My Home, A Tanka Prose

The last time I visited my parents in Taipei, I strolled through Da An, an affluent leafy residential district known for its prominent universities and small publishing houses. I spent half an hour in its winding alleyways and couldn’t find the bookstore I had frequented for 20 years. At first, I felt a surge of panic and, moments later, a stabbing pain in my body. The Taipei I had known was gone.

on the wall

an old map of Taipei --

I look outside,

tiers of color lighting up

the Toronto night sky

Atlas Poetica, 21, 2015

Note: Taipei is the city of my birth, the capital of Taiwan (formerly known as the Republic of China)

Sultry Night Tanka

this sultry night
I juggle past with present ...
CN Tower
and Taipei 101
fusing into one phallus

NeverEnding Story, March 26, 2015

This Drifting Life, A Haibun

I am here -- and not here. Every night I sleep in Taipei, but wake up in Ajax. My mind is winged by a yearning for things not yet lost. It flies into the garden of hometown memories.

between morphine drips ...

feeling the weight

of cold air

Haibun Today, 8:4, December 2014

The Past Is A Foreign Country

hometown memories
wrapped in shared privacy
the old dog and I

now in Taipei
and dreaming of Taipei...
first hometown visit

a spider web
in winter sunlight
threads of memory 

NeverEnding Story, December 22, 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, 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

Nostalgia Tanka

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

Haiku Pix Review, #3, Summer 2011

A Haiku about Lantern Festival

Yuanxiao Festival
soaring lanterns light up
the Taipei sky

Wordl Kigo Database (Lantern Festival)

Note: The fifteenth day (Feb. 17, 2011) of the Chinese lunar new year is traditionally called Yuanxiao Festival, also known as the Lantern Festival. It is celebrated by the Chinese around the world. On this day, all the family members gather together to have bowls of yuanxiao or tangyuan (glutinous rice balls brewed in a sweet soup) right after dinner, and walk the streets carrying lanterns or launching sky lanterns.

For further information, read the Wikipedia entry entitled Lantern Festival.

Taipei is the largest city in Taiwan and has been the capital of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 1949.

Longing Tanka

eight years
drinking coffee at Tim Horton's...
what would it be like
to have a cup of wu-lung tea
in a Taipei teahouse

Magnapoets, #7

Moon Haiku

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

May/June 2010 issue of Sketchbook

Nostalgia Haiku

Taipei memories
here in a flash, gone in a flash...
snowflakes on snowflakes

Summer, 2010 issue of Haiku Ramblings

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

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

Bird and Wing together Go down, One Feather (Haiku Sequence)

rippled clouds
blanketing Taipei below
winged migration

rainbow arch
hanging over the CN Tower
my mouth on hers

taking S from the chest
replacing another s
poet-husband doing chores

diving into my mind
carving out a full moon
as sunlight warms Taipei

Lynx, XXV:1 (February, 2010)