Tel Aviv’s Sunset Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVII:  "Israelis leaving in record numbers"

I turn, turning back 

to see Tel Aviv’s sunset

for the last time ... 

this new neighbor’s words fade

in Toronto's snowfall

NeverEnding Story, January 14 2026

FYI: +972 Magazine, January 7 2026: Why Israelis are leaving in record numbers

Over 150,000 citizens have left the country in the past two years alone — many of them with a one-way ticket and no plans of returning.

And this tanka is a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXI: "beach party and booms"

written in response to The New Yorker, July 28, 2025: Israel’s Zones of Denial

Tel Aviv's beach party

the faint boom, boom, boom

from Gaza

NeverEnding Story, July 30 2025

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVIII: "incarceration crisis"

hands starfished

against detention windows --

candlelights swell

FYI: Haaretz, January 14 2026: Mass Arrests With Nowhere to Hold Them: Overcrowding Deepens Israel's Incarceration Crisis

A growing number of Palestinians suspected of illegal entry are being held in police custody in overcrowded cells, even told to 'defecate on each other.'

And this is a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLI: "Sde Teiman"

crimson twilight

at the edge of Sde Teiman 

a scream snaps in two

NeverEnding, November 15 2025 

FYI: +972 Magazine, Independent Journalism from Israel-Palestine, NewsLetter, Nov. 18, 2025: Torture, neglect, and starvation: new data reveals 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXIX: "smoky moon"

from charred trees

to ruins of empty houses

smoky moon over Gaza

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXX: "the yellow line"

a ponytailed girl

holds her brother’s hand

to search for firewood ...

"pop, pop" near the yellow line

take out the hidden threat

FYI: Haaretz, Jan. 15 2026: Three Months Into Gaza Cease-fire: Israel Expands Control and Razes Neighborhoods

Added:

still-born birthday

the sparkling window frost

in her nursery

Added:

for "Heated Rivalry" stars Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander

hockey stars

fight each other on the ice 

then burn red-hot 

elsewhere -- eyes after eyes

glued to the screen, sparkling

New Life in the Land of 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"

in hazy moonlight

I gauge how much of myself

to allot

to this new-house and that once-home,

two places an ocean apart

Contemporary Haibun Online, 18:3, 2022

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

Rose-Fingered Dawn Tanka

rose-fingered dawn

slips through the skyline

of Toronto

a songbird and I 

bring news of spring

PoemHunter, March 31 2022

A Book of Poetry Yet to Be Published

In my recurring dream, a man shaped like a Henry Moore sculpture lies at the foot of the Toronto skyline. Red and black  slashes cut the sky above him. The title, A Meeting Place of Minds, is printed at the top of the book. My signatures,  Chinese and English, scrawl across a water-stained map of Taiwan at the bottom.

Pacific shore ...

one poem after another

folded into boats

Cattails, October 2018

Note: The origin of the name "Toronto" comes from the Huron word toran-ten, which literally means meeting place.

Selected Tanka: Toronto and Chinese Self Tanka

Toronto settles
into a nocturnal rhythm ...
face to face
in the attic room
with my Chinese self

Haiku Canada Review, 9:1, February 2015

#TorontoStrong Tanka

third day
since the attack
I turn in bed
waiting for the sun
to reach the CN Tower

NeverEnding Story, April 25, 2018

Note: The CN Tower is Toronto's most iconic building that dominates the city skyline.

Snow-Covered Nursing Home Tanka

his bedside table
stacked with Chinese magazines ...
at twilight
a snow-covered nursing home
on the Toronto Islands

Kokako, 25, 2016

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)

Pool of Blood Tanka

a pool of blood
on the Toronto street ...
in his hand
a golden pocket watch
set to Beijing time

Iris, 2015

Writing Class tanka

after writing class
the four of us depart
into the dark
pencil towers pierce
the Toronto sky

Iris, 2015

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

Day and Night, A Tanka Sequence

for new immigrants

flying above
the light and murmur
of Formosa
the airplane carries
my immigrant dream

Toronto settles
into a nocturnal rhythm ...
face to face
in the attic room
with my Chinese self

Haiku Canada Review, 9:1, February 2015

Note: In 1544, a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it "Ilha Formosa," which means “Beautiful Island.”

Blue Haze Tanka

the blue haze
that is Toronto
lies before me
in the distance:
a new home, and yet ...

Sonic Boom, 1, December 2014

The Pain from an Old Wound

A Tanka Sequence

moonstruck
Nostalgia gains momentum
leapfrogging
from Taiwan to Toronto
I'm its colonial subject

my dog
seems to know the length
of its leash
I have no clue
how to measure Nostalgia

go back
to where you came from
Nostalgia screams ...
one kick after another
I see Bruce Lee in the mirror

NeverEnding Story, October 29, 2014

Note: Bruce Lee (27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Chinese American actor, and he is highly regarded by many commentators and fans as the most influential martial artist of modern times.

A Book of Poetry Yet to Be Published, A Tanka Prose

A man shaped like a Henry Moore sculpture lies at the foot of the Toronto skyline. Red and black slashes cut the sky above him. A Meeting Place of Minds is printed in small letters at the top of the book. My Chinese signature scrawls across a water-stained map of Taiwan at the bottom.

the muse screams

but waves of nostalgia

are much louder ...

the blank page's stare

intimidating me

NeverEnding Story, July 27 2014

Note: The origin of the name "Toronto" comes from the Huron word toran-ten, which literally means meeting place.

Moonstruck Tanka

moonstruck
Nostalgia gains momentum
leapfrogging
from Taiwan to Toronto
I’m its colonial subject

Bright Stars, III, 2014

A Life in Transition, A Tanka Prose

ten-lide ticket

to Toronto ...

in the booth

what did you say

echoing and echoing

I try to speak like you in order to be able to speak with you. But, to your Canadian eyes, I look just like one of the Chinese coolies who laid the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and who were cropped out of the ceremony photo.

Haibun Today, 8:2, June 2014

A Tanka about Toronto

they claim
Toronto means "meeting place"
in Huron...
"foreign credential" tastes good
on the know-it-all's tongue

PoemHunter, March 26, 2014

Taste of My Childhood Tanka

daikon peeled,
pork belly washed and salted,
carrots chopped...
the taste of my childhood
in a Toronto kitchen

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013