Changming Yuan- Two Poems

2013

Black is this year, both because

The ominous number has flooded the world

With America’s QE3, Snowden’s dark secrets

And war threats from Obama, the Nobel peace

Prize winner and, more important, and because

This is the year of the snake, the most difficult

Year in my entire life when I have been badly

Bitten by 3 vcious vipers; one has run away

With a piece of meat from my heart

Another trying to strangle me

Into a slow death, and the third still waiting

To swallow my hardened body

With its young and ambitious mouth, all

Sloughed out of the attractive terror of white

Entering Adulthood: To George and Allen

The most important tip for you, Sons

Is to forget all the tips any father

Any book, any computer can give you

About this world, but just remember

This: the moment you step

Out of the boundary of our little home

You will have to remain

On high alert, even while dreaming

What you will cross is a snakeland, where

There is as much sunshine, fresh air

As many blue skies, green leaves

Fragrant flowers, handsome

Human figures, as cobras, mambas

Taipans, adders, kraits and vipers 

[bio note]:: Changming Yuan, 6-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013), grew up in rural China but currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-publishes Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press. With a PhD in English, Yuan has recently been interviewed by [PANK], and had poetry appearing in Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Exquisite Corpse, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 749 other literary journals/anthologies across 28 countries.