Yuan Changming

Rain Sparrow

for Helena Qi Hong

Above this wild wild world covered
With layers and layers and layers
Of red dust, my selfhood
Has long been tired
Tired of flying
Flying alone
Day & night

But where can I perch?
Do I have a nest at all?

O for a solid
Respite before
Continuing my lonely
Flight, snuggling my inner-
Most being in the heart of your
Soul, and settling my weathered body
Right at the A-spot of your tenderness

10 Shortcuts to Immortality/Eternalization

  1. Sit on a lotus position and begins to count your breaths

  2. Double-kiss your soulmate (French kiss both up and down)

  3. Climb high to look afar at the landscape

  4. Listen to the symphony of your little private garden

  5. Embrace a tall tree and let your mind flow towards it

  6. Watch a star and catch its rays emitted millions of years ago

  7. Soak yourself in a hot spring to become part of nature

  8. Take a deep breath and let your qi join the energy field of a poem (or song)

  9. Lie down & Imagine a blue dewdrop dissolving into your entire inner being

  10. Forget your very self

Pardon My French: “The Whole World Hates America”

As soon as the Indian summer is over
A newly old Turk
Who always talks in plain English
(About anything as American as apple pie)
Will put an end to this Mexican standoff
(By way of a deep French kiss?)
Before taking French leave
And then going Dutch
(With Dutch courage, of course)
For some real black Russian
Despite all those Chinese whispers
Which are totally Greek to him
Even if he has to take a slow boat to China
Where there’re simply too many chefs
And not enough Indians

Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 2 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline and 2019 other literary outlets worldwide. A poetry judge at Canada's 2021 National Magazine Awards, Yuan began writing and publishing fiction in 2022.