By Yuan Changming
Essential of East Philosophy: A Fourword Poem
From
Dao
To
Infinities
Mindful Mindset
1/ Here: Into the Reality
You see, here’s the leaf dyed with the full
Spectrum of autumn; here’s the dewdrop
Containing all the dreams made on the
Darkest corner of last night; here’s the
Light pole in the forest where gods land
From another higher world; here’s the swirl
You can dance with to release all your
Stresses against the Virus. Here you are in
Deed as in need embracing
The most
Mindful moment, when you can readily
Measure your feel with each breath, but do
Not think about time, which is nothing but
A pure human invention. Just point every
Synapse of yours to this locale. Here is now
3/ Now: The Art of Living
With my third eye I glaze into
The present moment, & there I find it
Full of pixels, each of which is
Unfurling slowly like a koru into
A whole new brave world that I
Can spend days, even months to watch
As if from
A magic kaleidoscope
Thought in Levy Flight
Where’s Allen going? Pacific. Today is Wed. My old
Flame is sleeping, waiting to have her GGN removed
From her lungs to stamp out cancer. Poetry. Something
Good to pop up down the road? No luck is good luck
Choices Market where to work soon until 10:13 pm
A little dark cloud drifting beyond the horizon. Crows
Pandemic. Delta plus plus plus keeps chasing us all
China has closed its doors behind the bamboo curtain
Big paranoid. I cannot to go back to Jinzhou to see
Mom, let alone join Qi Hong & elope with her! Bid-
Den vs Trump in so many ways. The apolitical is way
More politics. Wife is cooking fish again, um, smells
Good. Blue & white & pink noises. Any dark ones?
Tinnitus makes me mad. Whistling. Ah, ppppanda!
Three trillion cells in my body, just as many stars
In the cosmos. Ants, rats, silverfish. Floaters darting
So evasive like hopes. Catch one. Paradise lost
All That I’ve Loved Most Dearly: for Helena Qi Hong
When I die at another antlike moment like this
No human crowds would gather to mourn my loss
Nor would anybody really notice my departure
Much less shed tears, even if because of the wind
Yet I am sure trees will shake off their leaves; horses
Will stampede, raindrops will taste somewhat salty
Hills & mountains will all murmur in a muted voice
Above all, Zhuhai will weep under sagging clouds
For it well knows there will be no more human soul
On this planet trying to connect with the city as far
As from beyond the Pacific, so closely & constantly
With its myriad spirited fingers caressing every
Synapse of the neighborhood, the very building
Where you dwell, while poetry cannot help feeling
Empty as if its heart were hollowed by my absence
Poetry and Faraway: for Li Lan
Life is not only about gains and pains
But poetry and the faraway it contains
Living in
The opposite sides of this world, with
All the time differences between us, you
Are my poetry and the faraway, just as I
Am yours
To Get(her) Together: for Helena Qi Hong
1/ Loveland
As small as the screen of a cellphone
But much larger than the largest continent on earth
This virtual land boasts our private Peach Flower
Garden built with every thought & image digitalized &
Auto-managed by the powerful algorithm of
Love
Yes, deeply lost in this land
Of tenderness, warmth and spiritual intercourse &
Joined rather than separated by the Pandemic
We live deep in the heart of feel, where we forget to
Ask: “Which dynasty is it now outside of our garden?”
2/ Physical Contact
Via weixin, I can see & hear you vividly every day, or
Even every minute on a particular day, but I can
Never touch your fair, soft, rich & smooth skin, smell
Your unperfumed femininity, & taste your
Sun-painted mouth in the shape of a big split cherry
So, at my repeated requests, you snail-mailed me
A hand-written letter enveloped with a lock of your
Undyed hair. Whenever it gets too cold, I can feel
The warmth of your handwriting, digesting your
Tenderness behind the Chinese characters, smelling
Your hair like fresh grass growing after a spring rain
Or from your very thought
Yuan Changming, 12-time Pushcart nominee and multiple poetry award winner, is probably the world's most widely published contemporary poetry author who speaks Mandarin but writes in English.
Growing up in an isolated village, Yuan started to learn the English alphabet in Shanghai at age nineteen and authored several monographs on translation before leaving China as an international student.
With a PhD in English from the University of Saskatchewan, Yuan lives in Vancouver, where he edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Since mid-2005, Yuan has had poetry appear in 1,959 literary outlets across 48 countries, which include Best
Canadian Poetry (2009, 2012, 2014), the Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-2017), BestNewPoemsOnline & Poetry Daily. Yuan was nominated for & served on the Jury for Canada’s National Magazine Awards (poetry category). In June of 2022, Yuan had his 13th collection released by Goldfish Press. Currently, Yuan is working on his first (hybrid or cultural) novel Edening.