2022, 12, 26 [Monday]
Redundant Negation: A Bilinguacultural Paradox
Since in both English and Chinese
Negatives can be redundant rather
Than negate anything or anybody
As in, say, I don’t know if it’s not
busy
Or 好不热闹 [how not busy it is]
Why must English &
Chinese speakers
Keep rejecting, denying,
refusing, negating
Each other even when
they use no
Negatives in their “speech
acts,” especially
When they talk across
the pacific?
Contronym Or Ambiguity
All the English
vocabulary of politics
Is based on one
single word: cleave
Which represents the
compromise between
Split and cling, while the whole Chinese
Philosophy of life
originated from one
Character觉，which can
mean both
Wake up and sleep at the same time
While the Chinese mind
Tends to
ignore the difference between two
Opposite
states (as illustrated in characters like
出，乱，败，置，揭，持，涂)，the English
Mind seems
to share this tendency (as evidenced
By words
like dust, enjoin, overlook, ravel, rent
Sanction),
though in a slightly different sense
Given this, can they live and
let live
Through
zhongyong, or by practicing
The true
art of (inter-linguacultural) politics?
Anniversary
Stanza
It’s a
quiet tree, though occasionally making sounds
With its
embossed veins – deep from the roots
Under the
ground, even when there’s no wind
Blowing.
Standing firm in the backyard
Of my
heart, it refuses to budge an inch in a storm
Shaking
off twigs like its shadows when
Leaves may
fall, except one always hanging on
There, as
if to entertain a passer-by on a scorching
Summer afternoon. It is my body and soul
I Miss You;
Therefore, I Am
(another periodic sentence for ll)
I am
thinking of you being awake all the time
I am
thinking of you being awake, all the time
I am
thinking of you, being awake all the time
I am,
thinking of you being awake all the time
Sommarøy: Alternative Immortality
Since residents in the land of midnight sun
liberated themselves from the tyranny of the clock by declaring the small
Norwegian island the world's only time-free zone, I’ve been dreaming about going
to join them and live a life away from the red dust, where I can settle my soul
permanently beside Yggdrasill, between day and night, beneath myriad stars
rather than a single sun, behind the shadow of thought, before my own inner
eyes, beyond the human calendar
The Worthiest Part of Life
Is what’s taking place
in your mind. It could
Be thinking, imagining, dreaming, but most
Importantly it is memory: you live either in
Your memory of last night, yesteryear, previous
Life or in the process of creating a new memory
In each progressive fraction of the present
moment
As both imagination and dreams are eventually
to
Become memory over time, all is lived as if
you’re
Forever lost between them.
Or,
without memory
Your existence is but a walking shadow on a
stage
Nay, a food processor, a shit producer, a human
void
Hieroglyphic Wisdom
As still waters may till rather
than run deep
Silence contains more strife in 静 than green
Amidst Fruits
On my shift at Market Choices I am
Busy shelfing fruits. Blueberries from Peru
Grapes from Italy, mandarin from Japan
Blood oranges from California, strawberries
From Mexico, passion fruits from Vietnam
Papaya from Taiwan. Pomegranates, coconuts
Pomelos, durians, bananas, even apples are
All emigrants too. Like me, from China, though
Not as sweet, succulent. But like one of the grapes
Breaking off its cluster, rolling aside as a
lost soul
In a popular organic store. Unseen in a tiny
corner
God-Universe Duality
You don’t understand wave-particle duality?
Me neither, nor do I have a clear idea about
The observer effect that can supposedly prove
The existence of God, but I know different
Perspectives see the same seen disparately
For example, changing the time zone or
My living space, I find a new self, and
At a slightly different angle, or with a
different
Mindset, I even see myself as a miniature god,
and
My life worthier than I have ever thought
As my whims, desires and wishes keep drawing
Energy from every corner of the universe. What
I observe, Pal, is how the universal law of
attraction
Is conspiring to make my dreams all come true
By bringing every like charge to my mind flow
Favoured Attributes: Three Haiku
- Li
Bai
Drinking starlight with
the moon
You confused the shadow
of a flower
With the dreams about
your home town
- Keats
As he turns to the nightingale in the copse
Several chirrups fell
down among leaves
Resonating with his ode
to autumn
- Simic
Before the green Buddha
falls from the stand
My words have already
assembled themselves
Into a caption below
the watermelon
It’s Not Loneliness But
Solitariness that I am enjoying
Right in this moment. Nay,
The true privacy I always prefer
The ultimate tranquility I hope
To cultivate, the rare detachment
I’ve been trying to feel, the freedom
(Not to say or do anything against
My natural inclinations) that I yearn
For, the authentic self I can spend
Real quality time with, the mindful
Moment, like Samadhi, or everything
Else that’s far more than being lonely
Delivery
I received a parcel yesterday
It’s fun, said the delivery guy
Always on the run, see different
People. Constant stops and new
Settings. And the moment I signed
His job perfectly done. While I
Can never find the right address though
I have so much to transport in words
Tested Positive Finally: for ll
Don’t
worry, Honey, my love is way
More effective than any vaccination
You can get.
A single shot from my
Heart will destroy all the devil viruses
Attacking your whole being, inside out
2022, 10, 24 [Monday]
Harmonious Homonyms: An Advanced Spelling Test
The wound wound with a broken bandage
The produce produced on a fallow farm
The desert deserted in the desolate desert, and
The present presented in the presence of the
president
The iPad left on the left side of the bookshelf
The chair left empty by the department chair
The crane seen flying over a construction crane
The refuse refused by the dumb dump
The object objected by everybody
The Wind turns out to be too weak to wind the
sail
The dogs bark at the bark peeled off from an
oak tree
He is close enough to the door to close it
The buck does funny things when the does are
present
She has to subject the subject to a test in
practice
You can recite at a play yet play at a recital
You can park your car on a driveway to drive on
a parkway
You can intimate this secret to an intimate
friend like me
While none would shed a tear on spotting the
tear in the painting
The Paradoxical Pattern in English Thinking
There’s neither egg in an eggplant
Nor ham in a hamburger
Much less any pine or apple in a pineapple
Just as English muffins were not invented
In England, so French fries did not originate in
France
Likewise, a guineapig is neither
From Guinea nor is it really a pig
While boxing rings are actually square
Quicksand always takes you down slowly
All writers do write, but fingers never fing
A teacher must have taught, while a preacher
could never
Have prought; a vegetarian eats vegetables only
And a humanitarian eats nothing but humans?
Hidden Manifesto of Stability vs 稳/wen/
These two
nouns are mutually translatable
Between
English and Chinese, there’s
No doubt
about that, but no translator
Knows the
most fundamental difference deeply
Buried between
two civilizations:
In English: only when you’re able to join the table
Can you make sure something remains stable
whereas
In Chinese: to achieve稳/wen/ or stability means to
Produce grain in a hurry, or the other way around
Acceptance
The
moonrise later. The sea becoming muted
Among foamy noises. All clouds scared away as
Myriad shapes of thought sagged in blue dreams.
&
Inspirations glisten beyond the mirage like the
moment
That hangs in midair. A dawn with brilliant
hopes is to
Break for us as it once did for the last
generation of earthlings
With the first rays penetrating the bloated bodies
of robots
Or godlings. Whoever survives must have adapted
to
Or embraced the changes that are constantly evolving
from
Their own innermost beings, evaporating like
the seawater
What I Love Most about Her: for ll
I can never tell
What I love most about her, though
I’ve been trying hard to pinpoint:
It’s her shiny personality, beautiful
Looks, elegant manners or sexual
Intelligence, a voices tells me and
Her alike, but my heart keeps denying
Such findings as it becomes more
Smitten with her. Or maybe it’s all just
A story about her unfolding to me
Alone? These months we’ve been video-
Chatting every day across the pacific
And the pandemic. Like a true story, the
Same old one I’m hoping to tell about
How she must have been my wife in
Our previous life, how her present life
Is entangled with mine without our
Knowing it, and how she is karmaed to
Be my mate in the eternity of futures. Isn’t it
A true story about how I need her, something
I have created for my ego to deal with
All
my own complexes?
Spiritual Derailment: for ll
Deep from a Platonic cave, she moved
Slowly as she fumbles her way with her bare
Hands, touching a protruding rock here
And avoiding a dead lane there. She heard
My voice only vaguely at first but soon found
My calls too loud, too
frequent.
Coming closer to the shape of this poem, she
Feels herself being constantly dragged back
By the invisible fingers of her perfect husband
Walking three steps forward slowly, but two
steps
Back quickly, before she got hold of the long
line
Extended
from this stanza to guide her along
She hesitates long before she ties her inner
being
With it. Then she keeps stumbling over my diction
Until the moment she steps out of the cave,
where
She finds herself standing right in the
spotlight of
My heart, where she becomes my central metaphor
Romance: for ll
Every relationship starts with an encounter
Between
two meteorites
As they shoot aimlessly in the vast
Space (where speed becomes irrelevant in
Time). Destined. Karmaed. An expansive
Story told in a dialect
that no
One can hear with their naked ears
Except you. And you alone. What do you
Love about me baby? (Or what made thee?)
Neither
reason nor feel can
Pinpoint exactly. What led you to the
Same youth station in Mayuhe? What
Made you give me a tuner only to take
It back and thus create a lifelong delusional
Love interest on my part? What transforms
Our misunderstanding, a meaningless
Gesture long forgotten, into true affections? A
Case of faking it till making it?
Anyway, our
Faithfulness to our hearts has made us both
Infidel to our innocent spouses in spirit
As in body. So, I am to blame for writing
This story while you prefer painting a picture?
Parallel in Solitude
Drifting alone in the indefinities of dark
Matter, Earth never feels lonely, does it?
Living with myriad fellow humans, how
Can
you really suffer from solitude?
Solitude vs Loneliness
Solitude is a spiritual state, which only the
High-minded people can experience, while
Loneliness is an emotional condition
That every commoner is capable of feeling
If that
is true, who am I when I get deeply
Lost between solitude and loneliness?
Precipitation
Filled with the water from the Yellow River
My inner cup remains muddy as I constantly
Move around. One day I hope to stop in full
Stillness, as in meditation, so the water can
Become clear & clean
So I can drink it to continue
My journey to the West, like the Monkey King
&
dump the mud as residues of my pasts
Dust to Dust
From which gravel on an unknown mountain
Has this speckle of dust transformed, no one
Knows, or cares, but it lingers in the air as
if
Waiting to fall down to Earth, with a raindrop
That was once
The sweat on a grass blade
Dueling against heat on the other side of the
Mountain before it becomes totally weathered
Snapshot of Anti-Nature
On the muddy bank of Amazon a caiman is chewing
A bird while a brilliant butterfly is drinking
its tears
Smellprint
My nose may not necessarily be sharper
Than any other man, but I can smell you out
Among millions even with my eyes
Fully covered with the darkest moment
Of last night.
It’s my soul, they say, that’s
Recognized you as my love in my previous
Life, via this fragrance only I can identify
The tree
Has lost
More leaves
Not only to
Learn to let
More light
Shine through
But to shake off
Its pasts
To prepare itself better
For a new season
[The cherry tree
Is budding
Against the cold
Of last year
Is blooming
To contribute
All its brilliance
To a new season
Through
>>
>> The old oak
>> has lost
>> more leaves
>> than most,
>> has learned
>> to let
>> more light
>> shine through – scott owen]
2022, 8, 15 [Monday]
The Sounds & the Climber
Down in the valley, you
hear a
Whole plethora of noises - loudest are
Croaking & barking; halfway
Uphill, you hear only the whistling
Of
winds & murmuring of mists
Until you come upon the mountaintop
Where you hear, with all your inner &
Outer ears, nothing but a call from
The unheard, the loudest echo of
Dao in your cloudy mind
The Universal
Law of Equilibrium: Daoism
There’s
neither god in Heaven, nor
Heaven above earth in the first place, except
This hidden universal Law of Equilibrium:
If you lose here, you are bound to gain
There; while you suffer now, you will be happy
Then; though you fail in many small matters
You are fated to win in a big way; once you put
An end to this, you are
beginning anew with that
Or the other way
around, or vice versa. Or in
Daoist terms: just as
your whole mindset is
A matter of thought,
all your worlds can be
Boiled down to a few
concept-coded words
Bubbling
in the cauldron of your mind
Zen Secret about Happiness
Less = more, as many know it
But few can do this
calculation in deed:
Whereby you can maximize your happiness
By reducing your desires to the minimum
As the denominator of everything you already
Have for your outer existence; in other words
Happiness = haves / wants
Ultimate Conspiracy
Just as
modern science and technology is
A conspiracy to make us as lazy as stupid
Civilization is one to entertain us each by
Shortening the life span of our whole species
Double Nesting: for ll
You are
a bird, always in search of a nest
(An open cage?), where your body & soul
Can both come down to perch for the cold
And long night, no matter how far or high
You’ve
been flying during the day
Yes, just as her vagina is the nest of your
Penis, her love is that
of your soul
Thrust & Smell: for ll
Just as every woman is fond of the feel
Of a man’s thrust, so may every man
Of a woman’s smell in lovemaking
With my peculiarly sharp
nose, I
Sense a light fragrance from your body
As from your personality, a unique smell
That I can tell with both my inner & outer
Eyes fully covered, even with my breath
Held; whereas you can feel the rhythm
Of my masculine thrust, the momentum
Of my innermost being, even when
You are video-chatting with me from
The other side of this world, can’t you?
Punching
Down or up, we punch all others online
Not to shame them as our surrogates, but
To make a critique of words by way
Of other words, much like a virus variant
Printed on the blank pages of the mind
Tender Dark
As the background color of light rather
Than the spotlight of night, dark is
The infinite container of all matter in
The cosmos, where its invisibility offers
Warmth, tranquility and ultimate home
To every wondering soul, thicker than
Either, inclusive as the universe itself
Or the human mind, where no one
Has to worry about being disturbed
Denounced, or deprived of, where
Each body can rest in comfort, dream
About light, hope for the better, where
The seed is biding its time until it can
Bloom in the right season, where
Solitude accumulates power in silences
Dark Matter
Shapeless, colorless
Odorless, tasteless
Unperceivable
Unimaginable
As it keeps
Moving through
Or around
Our shapes &
Shadows alike
Like the human consciousness
Or, perhaps
The whole universe which is
But a projection
Of the mind
More exactly, dark matter
Is no other than
Consciousness
Detached from
A single thinking cell
As if in an other
Big bang, isn’t it?
Shadow
Just as there’s far
more darkness than
Light in the universe, so there’s always
More ignorance than enlightenment in
The human mind. So let there be epiphanies
To offset obsession; let there be hopes
For tomorrow to expel the darkness of
Last night; let there be new growth of
The soul towards the sun in the bush, &
Above all, let there be a fusion of
Night with day, between shadows
Blue Sky Dream: for ll
Behind the dance with no choreography
I see the gracious steps and movements
Of your shapely figure in tune with
An ascending spirit, where bees swarm
Into the spotlight as if to collect notes
Shaken off from your melody, and swirls
Sweeping through the grassland as if
To emulate your postures in the distance
Beyond
the horizon
It’s
not my imagination
But in the dance I do see you painting a
picture
With all the smoothness, tenderness and grace
Of your body in the heart of light
As in the spotlight of
my dream
In This Antlike Moment : for ll
Where the Atlantic and the Pacific
Meet
Where yin and yang
run
into each other
Where a fallen leaf is blown up and
flies
like a bird
Where she reveals
her fair and shapely shoulders to you
Where a pile of scrambled words
assemble themselves into a line
Where an ant tries to cross a crack
in the cemented pavement
Where you hide the fragments
of a collaged photo of you two
Where he enters to make love
while she is talking dirty with you
Now is the moment in which
to set your selfhood in mindfulness
For ll: The Image, 2021
That she drew with pencils, & colored
& stored it into her Huawei Mate 10
(In the presence of my absence)
Together with her feel & edited it
Well, so I could use it readily for the cover
Of my newest poetry book
(She
said her
Drawing skills are not a good match to my
Poetry.) When my publisher asked me later
For an author image & cover art, I sent out
Her color lead drawing along with my finger-
Prints, thus mixing our physical traces, such
As breaths, heartbeats or fingerprints. So
When the image was used, it could be seen
As my face, my author image to draw attention
Hopefully to what is included in the content
