Chen-ou Liu's Translation Project: First English-Chinese Haiku and Tanka Blog

Showing posts with label mist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mist. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 30, 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



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



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

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Crossroads in Mist Haiku

crossroads in mist
my pink-haired ten-year-old
shakes off my hand

Modern Haiku, 56:2, 2025

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Dream after Dream Tanka

awake, yet not awake ...
I struggle through dream
after dream
of crying out to Father
in the misty twilight

Gusts, 40, Fall/Winter 2024

Sunday, December 2, 2018

Friday, November 24, 2017

Immigrant Past Tanka

alone on the shore ...
the sound of winter winds
playing a foghorn
enters the mist
of my immigrant past

Atlas Poetica, 29, 2017

Thursday, April 6, 2017

What remains?

She left me twice in those six months. First, to end three years of mental fencing. Second, when she took her life.

alone
at the edge ...
river mist

Contemporary Haibun Online, 13:1, April 2017

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Train Whistle Tanka

out of the mist
the sound of a train whistle ...
I clutch Aunt
with one hand, my other
holds Mother's old photo

NeverEnding Story, September 6, 2016

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Shape of Silence Haiku

rows of crosses
in winter mist
the shape of silence

Modern Haiku, 47:2, Summer 2016

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Winter Mist Haiku

winter mist ...
the poem I wrote for you
illegible now

German Translation

Winternebel ...
das Gedicht, das ich für dich schrieb,
jetzt unleserlich 


Chrysanthemum, 18, Oct. 2015

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Our Unfinished Story, A Haiku Sequence

winter mist
she shares her tale
of first love

red wine
from my mouth to hers …
blooming iris

summer moonlight
on her breast
fingering my name

dry leaves rattling ...
the awkward silence
between me and her

NeverEnding Story, July 1, 2015

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Winter Mist Haiku

winter mist …
bookmarking a moment
with this haiku

Haiku Special, 3rd Japan-Russia Haiku Contest 2014.
Featured in Akita – the Land of Poetry, 6 and Whispers, April 11 2015

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Spring Mist Haiku

I  s  t  r  e  t  c h t h e l a n g u a g e a s f a r a s t h e e y e c a n s e e
springmist

NeverEnding Story, March 15, 2015

Monday, January 26, 2015

Morning Mist Tanka

the morning mist
shrouding me from my past
this tenth winter
my body in one place
my heart in another

Cattails, 4, January 2015