July First Tanka

the Maple Leaf

billows on July First …

the added hyphen

weighted with ancestral names

before Canadian

NeverEnding Story, July 1 2026

Drifting in White Ribbons Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIII

written on Canada Day Eve

twilight mist

drifting in white ribbons

over the river ...

thoughts of staying or going

tangled in my immigrant past

NeverEnding Story, June 30 2026

FYI: This could be read as a sequel to the following gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII

A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go

“I used to be” in the folds

of my Walmart smile

NeverEnding Story, December 14 2025

This gembun could be read as a sequel to my tanka below:

at winter twilight

should have, could have, would have

are a boulder

rolling down the hill of life

I push it up, and yet ...

Gusts, 39, Spring/Summer 2024

This tanka could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting

of summer clouds

mother

lets go of my hand

. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIV

a fork in the road —  

thoughts of returning

to my homeland

as a blue butterfly veers

into the narrower trail

Immigrant Heart Tanka

unpacking

boxes in a dusty corner

of the attic ...

faded photos buried deep 

in my immigrant heart

Cold Moon Journal, Nov. 5 2025

An Immigrant Poet's Reflection on Writing the Suffering of Others

"Merely to say, to see and say, things 
as they are,” grows loud ... and louder in a corner of my mind as moonlight slants through the study window.

[decades-long

inhuman occupation compressed]

to one-day attacks

reponding with the red glow

of missiles in Gaza's night sky

this endless loop:

October 7, October 7 ...

[and yet

the decades BEFORE

and the day AFTER] bloodshedding

each bombed-out house:

an album with no photos

but with people

living, wounded and dead

pressed between its pages

anything new

under Gaza's smeared sun?

smoky rubble

beyond smoky rubble, and yet

again smoky rubble

I etch each pain with a borrowed tongue, then every word becomes a betrayal; but all the silence will turn into a heart wound. Turning my gaze from writing, then looking out the window at the moon, its fullness, I mutter, "what is the use of useless poetry when it cannot stop the killing?"

Cattails, October 2025

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

Rainbow Koi Haiku

to emigrate or not …

rainbow koi swimming

in circles

 

The Heron's Nest, 27:3, September 2025 

Moonlit Shadows Tanka

box after box

of my immigrant life

in moonlit shadows

those I can't part with

those I can (but will I?)

Cold Moon Journal, September 18, 2025

First Dream Job Tanka

first dream job

in this land of milk and honey 

alone for now

at an alley hotel

behind bulletproof glass

O2 Haiku, "One Breath", September 28, 2025

Immigration Gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII

A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go

“I used to be” in the folds

of my Walmart smile

NeverEnding Story, December 14 2025

FYI: The "folds of one's smile," clinically known as nasolabial folds, are the natural creases in the skin running from the sides of the nose down to the corners of the mouth... Over time, these folds can become deeper and permanently visible (static lines) due to various factors, including:

Natural aging: The skin loses collagen and elastin, proteins that provide structure and elasticity.

Repetitive facial expressions: Frequent smiling and laughing reinforce the creases in the skin.

And this gembun could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting

of summer clouds

mother

lets go of my hand

. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020

Added:

new immigrant’s gaze

raindrops on maple branches

laced with snowflakes

Added: written in response to Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting

and for Ahmed al-Ahmed's courage, which reminds me of the following remark: 

The sole purpose of human existence

 is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

 

-- Carl Jung 

The candlelight flickers, defining and defying the gathering dark.

mass shooting news ...

another Hanukkah candle

glows on

FYI: During the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights (evening of Sun, Dec 14 -- Mon, Dec 22, 2025), an additional candle is lit each night, until all eight are burning on the final night. 

And Ls 2&3 of the haiku could be read as an allusion to the following remark:

The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.

-- (often attributed to) Rabbi Nachman

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLVII: "Israel blocking shelter supplies"

written in response to Al Jazeera, Dec. 11, 2025: Gaza’s camps brace for floods as Israel blocks key shelter supplies

one single breath

life and death divided

by indifference

in soaked tents Gazan kids curl

with eyes gazing heavenward

Added:

talk of war

a mourning dove fades

with the last light

Added:

more war news ...

on the power line

a mob of crows

Zigzag Path Haiku

the zigzag path 

of a yellow maple leaf ...

to stay or to go?

Mamba, 18, 2025

Writing Life Tanka

using alphabets

not ideograms, I write life

into existence ...

how long will these footprints

remain in the snow of time

Laurels, 4, 2025

Farewell Tanka

Mother's farewell

lasts far into my first night ...

Taiwan, lone island

seen through the airplane window

as my lower lip trembles

Cold Moon Journal, June 19, 2025

Nail Holes Tanka

slanted moonlight

on nail holes in the wall ...

box after box

of my immigrant life

wrapped in shadows

Cold Moon Journal, May 29, 2025

Exile Haiku

tenth year in exile ...

wave after wave rinsing

my shadow

Fourth Prize, New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition 2025

Comment by the Judge, Scott Mason: The persistent “otherness” commonly felt by an exile finds a poignant natural correlate in this poem. As the years come and go, the beach waves continually advance and recede; yet they can never wash away the protagonist’s physical shadow, nor the felt sense of a shadow existence when separated from one’s “true” home—perhaps a home located on the other side of the ocean from where he or she now stands. [I’m reminded here of Dante: “You shall find out how salt is the taste of another man’s bread” (Paradiso XVII)]

Immigrant Past Tanka

jolted awake 

from a recurring dream

I murmur

is my immigrant past 

this black hole of what-ifs?

Cold Moon Journal, March 3, 2025

Promised Land Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXVIII

in this promised land

my immigrant life compressed

to hard working 

and light sleeping between jobs ... 

fresh morning in my broken world 

NeverEnding Story, April 16 2025 

FYI: L5 alludes to the following lines:

...

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

I beg of you...

Mary Oliver, "Invitation," Red Bird, 2009

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXIX

stringing 

and unstringing this old erhu ...

My Hometown

the song I come to sing

remains sung in my heart

Added: 

a riot of colors

in my neighbor's garden

at its edge

Foreclosure tilted 

in breezy sunshine

Added:

a long lineup

at the recycling station

in his cart

empty bottles and cans 

taller than this street kid

Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XXIII

shoulder to shoulder

protesters chant, Not Our King!

holding a giant banner,

Vladimir Putin walks

Donald Trump on a leash

Added:

in his $50,000 

three-bedroom ranch-style rental home

the Richest Man sneers

homeless men? Just drug zombies, 

needles and human feces on the street

FYI: Yahoo! Finance, April 4: Elon Musk sold his seven mansions for more than $100 million and now lives in a $50,000 three-bedroom ranch-style rental home in Boca Chica, Texas

The Independent, Dec. 13, 2024: Elon Musk calls homelessness a ‘lie’ and ‘propaganda’ — and Trump is listening

“Homeless is a misnomer. It implies that someone got a little bit behind on their mortgage, and if you just gave them a job, they’d be back on their feet,” he told former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson in October. “What you actually have are violent drug zombies with dead eyes, and needles and human feces on the street.”

The more money spent combating homelessness, “the worse it gets”, according to Musk.

And Los Angeles Times, April 20: Lancaster mayor's remedy for homelessness: 'Free fentanyl' and 'a purge'

Immigrant Past Tanka

to forget

or not to forget

my immigrant past ...

in the autumn wind

even clouds touch and part

Time Haiku, 61, 2025

Land of Milk and Honey Tanka

a lone suitcase

going round and round

on the carousel ...

I wonder what my life will be

in this land of milk and honey

folk ku, 4, 2024

Immigrant Past Haiku

what will remain

of my immigrant past?

footprints in the snow

Japanese translation by Hidenori Hiruta

我移民私の過去の残る物雪に残りし足跡の如

Akita International Haiku Network, Jan. 15 2025　

(M)otherland Tanka

years in exile ...

moonlight rippling

the Pacific,

this narrow path

to the (M)otherland

First Place, Tanka, 2024 San Francisco International Competition

Commentary: This tanka has every quality of tanka that I love. It is lyrical, has mystery, and is especially creative in its use of language. It stands out, of course, for the parenthetical (M).This unusual element draws attention to multiple meanings, and is subtle and powerful. What can be closer than the mother, and yet estrangement, by geography, emotion, or rules, is heartbreaking. And the long narrow way back, in the night, traveling by moonlight, is very moving and speaks to all the separations and current difficulties our hearts are dealing with in our current affairs... excerpted from the judge's comments

FYI: FYI: This tanka could be read as a sequel to the following tanka and tanka sequence:

alone again

on the Pacific shore ...

winter moonlight

forming a narrow path

to the land I left behind

Cattails, September 2016

In Taipei, I still long for Taipei

ten years past

and alone in the moonlight

I have changed

and my hometown has changed

but we haven't changed together

I try to change

this idea of my hometown

people pass me by

with their eyes speaking in a code

that is foreign to me

the vendor asks,

are you from mainland China?

the look in his eyes

speaks the language

of a border guard

this journey

back to my hometown

ends 

with another one

on the road of no return

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, 13, April 2023

And I also won two honorable mentions of the tanka category:

a flock of geese

through the shelter window

a deaf veteran

touches again and again

the sound of home

Honorable Mention

Commentary: In this tanka, I love the mix of senses, and powerful elements. A "flock of geese" commands our attention even without the rush of sound that is inherent in it. And the lone veteran who sees, cannot hear but "feels" it. The action brings to heart the reasons for the deafness... and separation from the flock... excerpted from the judge's comments

Thanksgiving moon

sparks on the rippling water

of Lake Ontario ...

from his cupped, calloused hands

a migrant's taste of home

Honorable Mention

Commentary: This timely tanka brings out all our feelings of the questions of the heart of our times. Drinking the waters of home with gratitude and the work to reach this point of reunion are all held in the beautifully formed visually satisfying tanka for us to taste... excerpted from the  judge's comments