To the Unknown

trapped alone

in the liminal space

between shifting present

and frozen past ...

I gaze up at departing geese

on my life journey

what might happen, what could be ...

this burden

of all the possibilities

as new snow falls on icy roads

Haiku Canada Review, 20:1, 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

Fallen Blossoms Haiku

blossom on blossom

I wish I could 

let go of the past

Cold Moon Journal, August 1 2025

Last Mile Tanka

alone, uncertain

to walk or not to walk

the last mile

to the mountain orchard, I slip

further into my migrant past

Cattails, April 2025

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

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

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　

Slave Cemetery Tanka

a rutted road

to the slave cemetery ...

an old woman

bends under the weight

of her ancestral past

German Translation by Chrysanthemum Editorial Team

eine ausgefahrene Straße

zum Sklavenfriedhof ...

eine alte Frau

beugt sich unter dem Gewicht

ihrer angestammten Vergangenheit

Chrysanthemum, 32, 2024

Fallen Leaf Tanka

a moment

with a fallen leaf

on the river ...

the past will be past 

in this floating life

(to William Faulkner)

Cattails, April, 2024

War of Ghostly Pasts Tanka

midnight thunder

deafening as metal sheets

across the sky ...

again my father fights

his war of ghostly pasts

NeverEnding Story, June 6 2024

FYI: 

War is a bloody, killing business. You’ve got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. 

-- General George S. Patton's speech, given ahead of the Allied invasion

War is the most striking instance of the failure of intelligence to master the problem of human relationships.

-- Harry Elmer Barnes

For more, see Special Feature: "Selected Poems for Reflections on D-Day's 80th Anniversary"

Added:

the rusty door

of grandpa's backyard bunker ...

D-Day news on mute

Immigrant Past Tanka

long time no see

a friend I met years ago

greets me with hugs ...

my immigrant past

now a foreign country

NeverEnding Story, May 29 2024

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXIV: "arsenal of democracy"

Arsenal of "Democracy"

attacks on Rafah ...

will the sound of bombings

echo, echoing

in the ears of the World

thousands of miles away

how many charred corpses

must the President witness

before his policy changes?

to the clicking of cameras

the spokesman's mouth opens, closes...

police phalanx ...

a keffiyeh-draped student

sings Fida'i

with his hands at his sides

               eyes faraway

protesters

squeezed shoulder to shoulder

thunderous chants

of Cease Fire and Hostage Deal Now

throughout Tel Aviv's night

FYI: The title alludes to Joe Biden's Oct. 19 2023 primetime address, in which he described the American arms industry in Remarkably GlOWING TERMS, noting that, “just as in World War II, today patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom.” For more, see Salon, "Commentary," Nov. 15, 2023: "Good times for the military-industrial complex": American arms makers cashing in on conflict: But is it truly the arsenal of democracy?)

And Fida'ī" (Lit.: "Fedayeen warrior") is the national anthem of Palestine:

Warrior, warrior, warrior,

Oh my land, the land of the ancestors

Warrior, warrior, warrior,

Oh my people, people of eternity ...

The following entry could be read as a sequel to the last tanka:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, X: "Let My People Go"

lingering echoes

from a sea of protesters

in Tel Aviv:

Let My People Go

Elections Now

NeverEnding Story, January 21, 2024

And Haaretz, June 1: Tens of Thousands of Israelis Protest Ruling Coalition, Demand Hostage Deal Following U.S. Gaza Proposal

Police clashed with protesters in Tel Aviv; A hostage's mother said Biden delivered speech 'because he knows Netanyahu can sabotage the deal.' Hostages families led protests at cabinet members homes across Israel to convince them to accept Biden deal

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXV: "the objectors"

The Objectors

handcuffed

blindfolded and dragged away 

by policemen

an Arab Israeli arrested

for her anti-war posts 

the White House

in the gathering dark

a lone nurse

on her hunger strike

for Gazan children

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXII

another sunrise

after days of rain and wind

the tent cities 

grow between highrises, under bridges

along riverbanks and in parks

Added: 

the brick shack

with boarded windows

facing a graveyard

in gathering dusk

a torn-up chapbook: I AM

Added:

surging waves

come and go, come and go ...

alone again

in this motel room

I feel your presence

Added: Game Show, 2024, L

grinning ear to ear

after Manhattanhenge's glow

Trump found guilty 

FYI: Yahoo!News, May 30: Trump found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, becoming the first U.S. president to be convicted of criminal charges

The trial lasted a month and a half and was plenty eventful. In addition to the fiery testimonies of Daniels and Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump was held in contempt of court 10 times and fined $10,000 for violating a gag order against attacking people involved with the trial. 

Added: Game Show, 2024, LI

guilty or not guilty,

does it matter?

same old man's crocodile smile

FYI: American crocodiles live in coastal areas throughout the Caribbean and occur at the northern end of their range in south Florida and the Keys.

And USA Today, May 31: Trump campaign doubles previous one-day record fundraising haul after guilty verdict

Former President Donald Trump's campaign says it raised a whopping $34.8 million in small dollar donations after he was convicted Thursday on 34 felony counts in Manhattan.

Added: Game Show, 2024, LII

day after day

unrolling news after news

of the hush money trial ...

can Trump's guilty verdict 

patch up this broken world?

Added: Game Show, 2024, LIII

Lost & Found

a Mexican parrot screams

guilty, guilty ...

Immigrant Past Haiku

this paper trail

of my immigrant past ...

motes in the moonlight

 

tsuri-dōrō, 19, Jan/Feb 2024

Border Checkpoint Haiku

border checkpoint

I leave my past and shadow

behind the red line

First Place, Fifth Annual Mukai Haiku Festival Awards, 2024

FYI: My haiku will be displayed on the grounds of Mukai Farm & Garden throughout late April and May.

Ghostly Thoughts Tanka

I close my eyes

and slip into childhood ...

these ghostly thoughts

jostling one another 

on the therapist’s couch

Shot Glass Journal, 41, 2023

Back-and-Forth Monologue Tanka

my girlfriend

peels back another layer

of the onion ...

this back-and-forth monologue

on our entangled past

Shot Glass Journal, 41, 2023

Impulse Tanka

the clock's hands meet

as the last customers leave
in dim barlight
glass after glass this impulse
to drink away my past

 
Haiku Canada Review, 17:2, October 2023

Back-and-Forth Monologue Tanka

my girlfriend

peels back another layer

of the onion ...

this back-and-forth monologue

on our entangled past

Shot Glass Journal, 41, 2023

It is always three o'clock in the morning

day after day.

the ghostly past

lurking around the corner

of my mind ...

with a scalpel of words

I stab into its heart

However, my immigrant past is never ...dead -- gone and forgotten. It is not even past. 

Distressed and alone by the bedroom window, in the wake of a dream about a Taiwan blue magpie disappearing into the dark forest, I hear Time passing in the sound of snow.

Ribbons, 19:1, Winter 2023

contemporary haibun 19, 2024

(annual anthology showcasing a state-of-the-art selection of haibun, tanka prose, and haiga from journals around the world)

FYI: The following remarks are emailed to me by Tanka Prose Editor, Liz Lanigan:

A short and powerful piece of self reflection where the poet seems to be preparing themselves for an intense look-back at family history.

Love the final sentence… “I hear time passing in the sound of snow”  -- Carole Harrison.

I think you published a little masterpiece: Chen-ou Liu’s  “It is always three o’clock in the morning”. It is the piece I am copying into my journal. I don’t feel like analysis, but it’s haunting and meaningful and I love the format which is innovative I think. -- Gerry Jabobson

Immigrant Past Tanka

leaves on leaves ...

like a coolie, I dig through

ruin upon ruin

of my immigrant past

to see if there's a future

Take 5ive, 4, 2022

Childhood River Tanka

winter sunset

over my childhood river

the past

rippling through the present

that I can't change

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, October 10 2022