Selected Haiku: Skyline Haiku

the skyline
etched in shadow
a refugee

Chinese Translation

天際線
蝕刻在陰影中
一位難民

Whispers, January 5,2017

Selected Haiku: Street Dogs Haiku

winter solstice
a street dog
outbarks the rest

Chinese Translation

冬至
一隻流浪狗
比其餘的狗叫得大聲

Whispers, January 5,2017

Selected Tanka: Silence and Shadow Tanka

a wine glass
of the winter sky ...
silence
and my shadow
wait side by side

Whispers, August 11, 2016

Selected Haiku: Therapy Session Haiku

therapy session:
winter rain on the window
deepens the silence

Chinese Translation

治療時間：
窗外的冬季雨聲
加深了室內沉默

Whispers, April 9, 2016

Selected Haiku: Crow after Crow Haiku

crow after crow ...
what remains
of this harvest moon ?

Whispers, December 2015

Selected Haiku: Another New Grave Haiku

another new grave
in winter mist
war cemetery

Whispers, December 2015

Selected Haiku: Hand-Me-Down Dream Haiku

hand-me-down dream
twilight laughter drifting
from the orphanage

Whispers, October 2015

Selected Tanka: Among Shadows Tanka

among shadows
in this attic room
I hear
years of lonely nights
stacked against my mind

Whispers, June 23 2015

Selected Haiku: Laughter and Dream Haiku

no trace left ...
I weave her laughter
into my dream

Whispers, April 11, 2015

Selected Haiku: One-Legged Veteran Haiku

winter twilight
the one-legged veteran faces
a revolving door

Whispers, April 11, 2015

Selected Tanka Prose: I write, therefore I am

I try out

the word English writer

in my Chinese mouth

several times ...

this bittersweet taste

I write poetry in the music of a language not natural to me. I am frustrated by my slow progress, but sometimes feel good about this hard fact: writing is the only thing I can do with my immigrant life here and manipulate it in the way I desire. When I stay drunk on writing, reality cannot destroy me.

at the gun-mouth

of time’s barrel

I write --

I live for myself

by myself

Whispers,  October 11, 2014

Selected Haiku: Moaning Haiku

the sound of spring rain on top of our moaning

Whispers, April  4 2014

Model Home Haiku

model home
a spider weaving
summer clouds

Whispers, May 16, 2018

One-Armed Man Haiku

one-armed man
alone with the winter wind ...
war cemetery

Whispers, May 16, 2018

Doll House Haiku

a doll house
sketched on the driveway ...
tilted foreclosure sign

Whispers, May 16, 2018

Barbed Wire Haiku

a white feather
blowing on the barbed wire
youth detention center

Whispers, May 16, 2018

Motel Night Haiku

alone
in a creaking bed
motel night

Whispers, May 16, 2018

Selected Haiku: Void Haiku

lunar eclipse
can my words map the contour
of a void?

Whispers, February 26, 2014

White Contrail Tanka

I gaze up
at the white contrail
while writing tanka
as if there were magic words
to ground you in my world

Whispers, April 7, 2018

Nothing, Everything Tanka

I stand still
saying nothing, everything
as she waves goodbye ...
the sound of leaves
falling on leaves

Whispers, April 7, 2018