Free Verse Found
Online
Cage: Law or Marriage
A structure for
confining birds
or animals,
enclosed
on at least one
side
by a grating
of wires or bars
that lets in
air and light
Mirror: Eye or Picture
A surface
capable of
reflecting
sufficient
undiffused light
to form an image
of an object
placed in
front of it
God: Hero or Man
A being
conceived as
the perfect
omnipotent
omniscient
originator
and ruler of
the universe
the principal
object
of faith
and worship
Theological Thesis
Nay, Eve did not
Eat the apple
Rather, she ate an
onion
A really red hot
onion
Nor was she
seduced
By the ugly
serpent
But by a handsome
human
Who became her
sole partner
So, the human
history
Has been infused
with
Women’s tears
And men’s
guilt
Man vs Woman: A
Brief Sexual History
No man is perfect
Yet every man wants
women to be perfect
So, their feet
used to be bound
Now their faces
surgically shaped and reshaped
Their eyelids
doubled
Their breasts
raised
Their skin ironed
and chemically treated
Their
subcutaneous fat removed from their bellies or waists
Their legs made
longer on high-heeled shoes
Their entire bodies
perfumed, clad and decorated with all fashions
As if they were full-sized
dolls
Just as god made
man in his image
So has man been
making women after his likeness
Talking with the
Dreamless Man
Every creature,
even a goat has a dream
But this man has
never had one
Never knowing what
a dream is or does
Just as a man born
blind
Has no idea of
color
A dream is a place
you go to
When you fall
asleep at night
So –it is a washroom?
A dream is all the
crazy things
You do on the bed
in darkness
So –it is masturbation or sexual play
A dream is an
other life you live
While your body
remains mostly still
So –it is fantasy or imagination
To dream is to be
human, you know
So – I am not a human?
Of course you are,
only dreamless
--Isn’t it real-is-tick?
Bedmates
Some times the bed
is simply too big
Other times the
bed is way too small
However its size
seems to be changing
They never change
their shared bed
Getting Newly Old
you can only talk
about what you
used to do
and do
what you used to
talk about
you shrink in both
ways
and both ways are
the only way
to shrink
what’s supposed to be hard
softens like a
boiled noodle
what’s supposed to be tender
hardens like a
winter stone
one attempt
on top of another,
they say
or, rather, one
attemptable night
after another
A New Home Recipe Invented
after
25 Years of
Marriage
(after Leo Dangle, for Helen Liao)
‘yummy, it tastes so good!’ he exclaimed.
‘really?’ she
asked.
‘where did you learn the recipe?
These steamed fish
chips are really delicious
With all this
shredded green onion and fresh ginger.’
‘well, this is the third time I cooked
it this way. Do
you really mean
you like the dish?’
‘of cuz! Why would I want to lie
about the food YOU
cook?’
‘well, this is the only thing
i am never sure
about you.’
‘are you?!’
Last Meet with My
First Love
meeting you face
to face
you seem to hide
yourself
behind a fog in
another world
separated by the
pacific in between
you often look
like the flower
blooming on my
window ledge
have a blue dream
and you will see a
little cloud
drifting around
like me
near that
borderline
I have packed you
up tightly
into my backpack,
the luggage
I cannot consign,
or sent by mail
but carry it with
me
close to my chest
you are neither
light
nor heavy, but you
will
occupy a solid
space
in the closet of
my heart
You Function with Me
You function with me
Like the other Chinese chopstick
Together, we taste
Every dish put on our dinner table
Partner Perspective
When we were
younger
My wife and I used
to
Look at each other
as true equals
Since we were both
1.64 meter tall
No matter where we
stood
Now we are getting
newly old
She begins to look
down on me
Because I have
been shrinking
In every
conceivable way
She can perceive
The Man Most
Handsome
The most handsome
man
Is the man under
the little buttocks
Of an infant boy,
the one who is giving
The child a
thrilling experience
By carrying it on
his broad shoulders
Flapping their
arms together
Like wings
feathered with boyhood dreams
Making it feel as
if gliding, flying
Swirling around
One day, the child
will become a pilot
A pioneer, someone
who operates a machine
To fly in an
entirely new space
The little child
will not remember
The way the man
waved their arms
Nor did it see the
beaming smile
On the man’s face
when they
Jumped over the
ditch, dodged
Blocking tree
branches, or ran
Against a sudden
cold wind
But the child can
never forget
How it felt
As the man kept
running forward
Under its little
buttocks
On the Ferry Boat
We have never been
here before
But I remember
with every precision
The way you sat in
singular silence
The muted calls of
the fish
The hills beyond
the bay
The smell of the
west wind
That was blowing
through the heartland
Within both you
and me
Have we met before
in a dream
Or is this meeting
a dream of before?
Hamlet: the Play or the Movie
(For David R. Slavitt)
Who does not love Hamlet,
If they show or
perform it again tomorrow night,
Who would not go
to watch him?
To be or not to
be…we all have this question, mostly
In mind. But with
audiences young or old,
The answer is all
too clear, at the tongue, ah!
And the world will
well remember,
Admire, study,
discuss and argue
In every dialect
for centuries and centuries.
Not so bad, after
all, the poisoned
Wine, the poisoned
sword is fatal.
The cries on all
sides must be a warm comfort.
We all fall: only
a few on a classic stage,
In front of so
many
The Hero Is Also Dead
it took more than
eighteen centuries
and a great philosopher to declare
god was dead
now even a
sophomore in the street
can casually claim
hero is dead as well
does this mean man
has reduced
to an antihero, a commoner
who will live of, by, and for his
sole self?
The President and
the Mouse
Nothing went wrong
to begin with:
The president had
made a speech
As powerful as
penetrating as ever
Which was
televised nation wide
But some of his
diction so infuriated
Jake’s boss in their imposing building
He gave Jake a
huge pile of bullshit
The first thing in
the very morning
For obvious
reasons Jake could
Not throw out it
back at his boss
So he passed the
whole shit to Jane
After returning
home from his work
And so Jane passed
it to little John
And so John to his
bulldog
And so the bulldog
translated it
Into much more
dogshit and
Passed it to a
mouse in the storeroom
Usually on the
high alert against
A neighbor’s cat…
Face & Mask
Masks are the only garment that never goes out of fashion – Anonymous
Your masks
Are
So much
Like
Real faces
Nobody
Can tell
Which face
Is
Or
Is not
A mask
Politicians &
Public Opinion
This distorted
shadow of a monster dancing widely
Or of a colossal
rain cloud above the borderline between sea and sky
Constantly
changing its shape and thickness
With lightning and
thunder
Ready to blow or
to be blown into an unseen bubble
By the whirl
beaten up by another dancing monster
Confession of a
Police Officer
Father, I know
this is not a proud thing to do
But I really enjoy
hiding myself
Somewhere in a dim
corner
To catch a poor
guy never known to us
Changing lanes
without giving a signal
Speeding a couple
of kilos over the limit
Attempting a left
turn under a yellow light
Or simply looking
unlikable to me
You know, father,
it is always safer
Always more fun
and more comfortable
Always bossier,
and certainly more profitable
To give a stranger
guy a ticket, a handsome fine
Than to catch an
evil devil , an armed robber
A cold-blooded
murderer, a violent drug addict
Even a drunkard
costs me more skills
More brains, more
guts, more strengths
It may be a bit
too cowardly, too mean or wicked
Too ruthless or
mischievous on my part
I know, but we
just cannot help it, father
At the Dentist’s: A Politically Risky Poem
Do my teeth look alright, Doc?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you
are getting newly old.
Why do I sometimes feel so awkward about my teeth, Doc?
That’s because even your
wisdom teeth are retarded.
How come I keep dreaming about losing all my teeth, Doc?
I am not a psychiatrist
ready to listen to you as long as you don’t make sense.
What are you trying to do with my teeth this time, Doc?
Please stop dodging my mouth
mirror in such straightforward way!
How can I make sure my teeth will not deteriorate further, Doc?
Just open your mouth and
shut up!
At VGH Emergency:
A BC Story
[Pale with
persistent pain]…Excuse me?
[No response from
three chatting nurses]
[A bit louder] …Excuse
me?
[No response from
two chatting nurses]
[Timidly] …Knock,
knock?
[One remaining
male nurse yells with a ferocious face] Are you dying?!
[Terribly
embarrassed] No, sorry, but I…
[In a much louder
voice] Nobody, n-o-b-o-d-y knock here!
[More embarrassed
with greater pain] I am so sorry, but…
[With a bit more
professionalism] Since you are obviously not dying, wait over there!
Patient’s Complaint
With all due respect to your noble
(And handsomely paid) profession
I have been longing to say, dear doc
I am tired of your hopeless helplessness
Each time before I sit down, you’ve already
Doodled a prescription for my running nose
Or feel at a loss as to what to say when I
Have a little more puzzling pain in my jaws
Your sense of achievement seems to depend
More on the specific amount you get paid
Than on any vague assistance you might offer
To reduce my unexplainable suffering
Really, what can you cure at all, my savior
Surely neither cancer, nor aids, nor even a flu
So, for God’s sake, pretend no more you’ve
Entered this profession for cure instead of silver
Landlording at 161 West 49th Avenue , Vancouver
A whole dozen of
tenants
In this
unauthorized rooming house of mine:
One is a drug
addict
Nosy and
manipulative
Trying to play her
dubious role
Of a tenant
representative
And self-styled
manager on site
Another has just
broken his old hip
Ready to suit me
For an imagined
fault on my ownership
A third has been
using bed bugs
(God knows where
she gets them)
As an agent to
bilk every penny
Out the wallet of
my kindness
A fourth has
finally moved out
Tho his stuffs
still piled up
Under my heavily
abused sundeck
While others
either unable to pay their rent
Or bug me
constantly for their endless rights
With the tenancy
act here more protective
Of evil tenants
than of law-abiding landlords
I wonder if I
should just sell this rental property of mine
Rather than
continue living with it until I get the order
To shut down this
inner house of mine
All mad inside out
Sam’s Song
Tho my partner
threw me away
Like one of her
used lipsticks
After putting on a
new makeup
Tho my landlord
gives me shit
Each time I fail
to pay him
In full amount or
on the first day
Tho my boss has
just fired me
Simply because he
happed to see me first
After he lost a
fortune this morning
Tho my only friend
big mac
Is too weak to play
with me
Or dream about
having gold solid
Tho some call me
trash
Others look down
upon me
And still others
never see me
Tho I have had
little luck
Not to mention
money
Except a few human
rights
Be all that as it
may
i got to eat a
loaf of bread
and sleep in a dry
corner
even on a rainy
day
Vancouverites
(for Edward Field)
Everywhere else in
the new world, when people meet
They would greet
one anther saying
Isn’t it a nice day today! Sure it is!
Only in Vancouver
Foul or gloomy,
and launch into your complaints and frustrations
Then yawn and
become bored as they begin
To pour out their
own similar resentments in more detail
Echoing like a
parrot, you try to keep yourself less wet
Look, pal, it’s downpouring again, we got to run…uh…
So you start to
flee in opposite directions
Each trying to
hide yourself somewhere in a dry corner
As both of you
leave the scene in haste
You know you can
never remain dry on a rainy day
Flying over the
Pacific
From Vancouver Shanghai
I lost an entire
yesterday
From Beijing San Francisco
My son gained a
double today
As we keep flying
across the globe
We find our
tomorrows
Will never be the
same
As between the
east and the west
East vs West
breaking, broken
bare bricks on the
Berlin Wall
collected from the
ruins
to build a
transparent bridge
between the past
and the future
broken, breaking
earthen bricks for
Badalin Ridge
baked in a dragon
fire
to repair and
strengthen the long wall
separating the
prairies farther from the gobi
Short Cuts to
Celebrity
Put on the most
fashionable clothing
Try to use Ipod,
Ipad or Ipal before all others
Take a picture
with the president (dead or alive)
Eat a dinner with
Buffet, Hawking, Clint Eastwood
Get an autograph
from Tiger Woods, Oprah, Bill Gates
Stay in the same
hotel as Steve
Jobs, Rush Limbaugh, Jim Wales
Better
to get some smell when Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus or Angelina Jolie
Happens
to be farting around
Unidentified Female Outcry: A Politically Correct Complaint
I is
a female
I is
a coloured minority
I is
disabled
I is
a 100% naturalized voter
I has
many years of volunteering experience
I
speaks the official language without a foreign accent
I
comes from a much less privileged family
But why
am I not chosen yet
For
the position
For
the fame
For the
prize?
Living a God’s Life
Were you Jesus Christ,
Would you try to gain
A bit more information
Simply to bully all others?
Were you Buddha
Would you prefer to
Become better known
Through cheating alone?
Were you Allah,
Would you want some
More wealth than you have
For the sake of one more woman?
You are neither Christ, nor Buddha nor Allah
But just as you have given them these godly names
You can also name yourself as a god
And live like any one of them
Narrative
Viewpoints (2): Omniscient
God in the West:
As long as I can
get by in my way
I believe I must
be doing the right thing
So, I will keep
using all my powers
To convert all
others and othernesses
Into the religion
I have defined, and
Refined for them,
despite their black hatred
Despite their red
resistance
God in the East:
Longing to live in
harmony with nature
You hate to
interfere in the way yin
Seeks to balance
with yang, or otherwise
Even when you try
to enlighten others
You respect them,
be it an ant, or a blade of grass
You would never do
anything to them
That you would not
be done by
Gods in between:
Feeling coerced,
cheated, betrayed
Manipulated,
offended, they all came
Down from heaven,
up from hell
On a sunny
afternoon
To join common
humans on earth
Making love, or
trading with them
For a heart’s
hijab or a soul’s turban
The Operation
So seldom succeeds
In removing the
infected tissue
Reeking of pus and
blood
More often than
not
It makes the wound
fester even worse
When it functions
in effect
To take out the
ruptured
Piece of peace
War, the War
(Aside)
During the
Korean War, about 120 Chinese volunteer soldiers deployed themselves close to
the enemy positions in ambush for a whole snowy night. At 5:00 am the regime’s trumpet horn
signaled the general offensive, but the company failed to move as expected,
because all of them had been frozen to death, each still remaining in a
position ready to charge uphill…
The Political
Instructor
We will defend
our motherland
With the new
great wall of blood and flesh
As well as the
old rifles in our hands
Yes, our
weapons are out of year
But our will is
more than strong
Oh, I wish to
see my newly wed wife
What is she
doing right now
Snowflakes,
bog, beautiful
As large as in
my home town
But not so
white and fluffy…
The New Soldier
Whew, I am
really nervous
And it is
burning cold out here
But I cannot
move
Or the enemy
will spot us
And kill us all
With their all
powerful weapons
I will wait,
keep still, damn it
Once the charge
horn is blown
I will rush
forward
I do not want
to be a coward
I cannot lose
face
Yes, I will
bring honor
To myself, to
my parents
To my villagers
and my ancestors
I will live up
to my family name
Shee, my blood
is frozen
But I cannot
move, should not
Will not, not,
no, n…
The Cook Soldier
Sorry, boys,
too bad
I cannot cook
at this moment
But after this
battle I promise
I will find the
most edible grass roots
Tree leaves for
you boys
And cook you a
big meal
With your fried
flour
And a lot snow
And a bit more
salt
You know every
time when
I see you
wolfing down food and soup
I think of my
own boys
Always hungry
as colts
Yeah, my sons,
where are you?
Qiu Shaoyun: A Soldier Story
Once upon a time, during the forgettable Korean War…
Neither his family
background
Nor his
educational level
Nor even his true
name
Is meaningful here
But he was a
soldier
Fresh from a
remote farm
Lying flat on his
belly
Burning himself
second by second
To a slow and
prolonged death
On a foreign busy
slope
Soundless,
motionless, as if feelingless
So his comrades in
arms
In their ambush
positions
Would not be
killed by random enemy fire
While his sick
mother
Called his name
In her wintry
dream
His fiancée
praying for his safe return
Under the oldest
village tree
Yet he is no more
a hero
Than a great
general now
Century Eggs, China
According to CNN iReporters (28 June, 2011 ), century eggs are one of the most
challenging foods they have come across on their travels.
Often served with pickled ginger
As a pungent appetizer
Century eggs have been popular
Among all adult Chinese
For centuries and centuries
Though to their children they taste
More archaic, more rotten
They may sound
Having been
preserved in clay
For longer than an
old season, these
Devil-cooked black
eggs are
Readily welcome
In my native
country
Where the older
are always better
Mixed black is
more attractive than pure white
Where what is ugly
Eerie, stinking
Can be cool, fresh
And damned
delicious
The Bare Truth
about the USA
You are truly the
world’s greatest country ever
That is because
you are the only superpower in time
[Because] you can
print as much money as you want
[Because] you are
ready to hit anyone you are sure to win
[Because] you have
the hardest fist and the longest arms
[Because] you have
all the smartest people on the earth
[because] you
offer the most attractive beneficial packages to new comers
[Because] your
sociopolitical system is the most impressive to the senses
[Because] your
founding fathers were the best designers of human society
[Because] your
designers were inspired by humanity’s noblest ideals
[Because] those
ideals were developed out of suffering, injustice and slavery
Because all this
is from the darkest age, the darkest part of the world
Imperial Standard
All this time
You say this
This, this, this,
this, and this
But you are doing
that
That, that, that,
that, and that
Aren’t you a
politician
Or a spokesman
For dear Uncle
Sam?
Americans Advertising America
EXIT 149 MIGDNIGHT SPECIAL
$TRIPPERS EXIT
“NEED WE SAY MORE” NOW
TRUCKERS WELCOME LEFT 2BLKS
MC SUPER SIZED
The American Dream
like a
superstitious stream
not too wildly wide
but you cannot
simply cross it
without a raft or a canoe
nor too dangerously deep
but you may easily
get drowned
if unable to keep floating on the water
nor too radically rapid
but the current is often swift
enough
to carry you far away to nowhere
Table of Contents
- The Second Departing
- Seeking Side by Side
- Birdkeeping
- Grape Eaters
- Human Culture
- In the Bog
- Human History
- 1435mm
- The Progress of Human Civilization
- Man’s Mutation
- Glass Safe
- The Unborn
- On the Recycling Day
- The Peril of Watching Too Much TV News
- The Stature at the
- This Busy Life
- Class 761,
- Towards a Broader Highway
- Worldly Affairs (1): Today’s Special
- Naming a Nation
- Worldly Affairs (2): A Chinese
Portrait
- Worldly Affairs (3): The Canadian
Comedy
- In Defense of Canadian Mediocrity
- Worldly Affairs (4): The Girl Who
Danced with Democracy
- Worldly Affairs (5): A Japanese Sketch
- Worldly Affairs (6) A Zeugma Sketch of
Uncle Same
- One More Difference
- Warning
- Fuck off, You America
- Civilization
- We Are All Being Watched
- Snorting
- Upgraded Groupings of Animals
- Steeper See-Saw
- Self-Abuse
- At
- Tree Spirits
- Tall Tale Newly Told
- Clothing
- The Only Difference
- Charon
- Free Verse Found Online
- Theological Thesis
- Man vs Woman
- Talking with a Dreamless Man
- Bedmates
- Getting Newly Old
- A New Home Recipe Invented after 25
Years of Marriage
- Last Meet with My First Love
- You Function with Me
- Partner Perspective
- On the Ferry Boat
- The Man Most Handsome
- Hamlet
- The Hero Is Also Dead
- The President and the Mouse
- Face & Mask
- Politicians & Public Opinion
- Confession of a Police Officer
- At the Dentist’s
- At VGH Emergency
- Patient’s Complaint
- Landlording at
- Sam’s Song
- Vancouverites
- Flying over the Pacific
- East vs West
- Short Cuts to Celebrity
- Unidentified Female Outcry
- Living a God’s Life
- Narrative Viewpoints (2): Omniscient
- Operation
- War, the War (Aside)
- Qiu Shaoyun
- Century Eggs,
- The Bare Truth about the
- The Imperial Standard
- American Advertising
- The American Dream
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