Day & Night

If each night rises
Outside each day
There lies a mighty mountain
Where darkness runs wild

You want to climb
Along this trail of light
And hunt for the rising darkness
Even without an arrow


Previously published by Saranac Review

 

 

Human Culture

when i wake up
and open my eyes
i see all my dreams
bounced back from the frames

when i take a shower
and start to sing
i taste my song tart
behind the blurring curtain

when i strive to step
out of my humble house
i feel fences quarreling hard
in the whole neighborhood

when i visit around and
do some blind sightseeing
i smell blood stained
along the castle foot

finally i flee from this world
and hide myself far away
i still seem to hear
the glaring cries from the great wall

delicately hung is this earth
a bluish cage in the universe


Previously published by Porcupine Literary Arts Magazine

 

 

My Crow

As an ancient Chinese saying goes
Crows everywhere are equally black
But this one in the backyard of my heart
Is as white as a summer cloud
I have fed him with fog and frost
Until his feathers, his flesh
His calls and even his spirit
All turned into white like winter washed

My crow’s wings will never melt
Even when flying close to the sun


Previously published by The New Quarterly

 

 

Immigration

To escape from the tyrannical logic
Of your mother tongue
You wandered, wandering
Through earth’s length and breadth
Subjecting your old self to another syntax
A whole set of grammatical rules
Strangely new to your lips and tips
To expand the map of your mind
Far beyond your home and haven
Yet in the meantime it becomes colonized
By all the puzzling paradoxes
Of this chosen language, for example:
Quicksand can be very slow
Boxing rings are in fact square
And a guinea pig is neither a pig
Nor is it from Guinea
Like you or me


Previously published by Other Voices

 

Birdkeeping: A One-Act Play Poem

scene i

A [in front of a detached house, trying to repair his fence while talking to himself]: Fucking hell, why does there have to be winds all the time? Without these wicked winds I would never have to worry about my fence, and the whole universe would have been much more peaceful.
B [passing by, with a bunch of empty birdcages behind his shoulder]: A nice day to do some repairing, eh? You know you’ve got a pretty solid house here.
A: Yeah, but it has cost me a lifetime, though, and I can never pay off my mortgage.
B: You know what I would do? I would hung a bird cage and keep it open. They say it will make you feel happy at least.
A: Really?! Wish to have one then.
B [giving one of his empty birdcages to A]: Here happens to be one for you. Happy or not happy, you will keep a bird.
A [taking over the cage and trying to hung it somewhere]: How come? But we’ll wait and see! [aside] Me to keep a fool bird in this cage? No way!

scene ii

A [receiving a guest in his living room]: So, how’s everything going, pal?
C [looking at the bird cage]: When did you begin to have a bird? What’s happened to your bird?
A: My bird? oh, I never keep a bird, but just …
C: ?

scene iii

A: [talking to himself before trying to answer a phone call]: Me to keep a bird? No way!
D: [at the other end of the phone]: I almost forget to say I am sorry for your late birdie, but didn’t you take good care of it? Perhaps you did not know how to keep a tender songster to begin with? I’ll lend you many really helpful books; perhaps I can give you some good tips right now?
A: Oh no! I never keep a bird except…
D: Come on, and cheer up! A bird is just a bird.

scene iv

A [in front of his house, trying to repair his fence again while talking to himself]: Dogfart, why does there have to be wicked winds so often? Without them I would never have to worry about my fence, and the whole universe could have been much more peaceful.
E [trying to sell a new product to A]: This time I remember bringing a beautiful bird as a little present to you. Here you go [putting a pink parrot into the cage].
A: Thanks very much, but…
E: Don’t mention it. This bird belongs just as much to your cage as your cage to this bird.

scene v

A [standing in the middle of his living room and yelling loudly at the parrot in the cage]: Me be a bird in cage? Oh no, me keep a bird in cage? N--
[the parrot mimicking]: mi-bi-bir-din-kei; mi-ki-pir-din-kei; mi-bi-bir-din-kei; mi-ki-pir-din-kei…


Previously published by Canadian Literature
       
                                                                                          

 

                                                                  

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Changming Yuan authored several books before emigrating out of China and currently teaches writing in Vancouver. Yuan's poems appear in Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry, Exquisite Corpse, London Magazine and over 200 other literary publications worldwide. His debut collection (Chansons of a Chinaman) and monograph (Politics and Poetics) both released in September 2009, Yuan has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.