Yuan Changming- Three Poems

Bodily Movement

Every body on earth is moving, changing

So is every body else within the whole

Cosmos, even the cosmos itself

Except the vast night sky

That remains still in the eye

Seasonal Greetings: for Liu Yu

Rather than composing poetry

To commemorate you after you are gone

I am now writing, dear Mom

To pay my highest tribute to you

As one of the hardest-fated on earth

Yes, among the many death experiences you’ve had

The most significant one for me (and my sons)

Was your sickness you suffered at two, which was so

Severe that your poor and ignorant foster mother

Could do nothing but put you on a flat basket

And return your living corpse to your bio-creator

But for your step father, who used his shamanic skills

To contain the evil spirit and drive it to an unknown

Corner, you would have died like a doomed sapling

(That’s why your name is changed to ‘Refound’)

So, stay well, Mom, and remain hardy for us!

.

You are just a tiny pinpointing dot

But you can pin an end onto

Anything, anybody, even the entire cosmos

From the strongest statement

In the most powerful discourse

To the weakest form

Of the representation of life

A solid full stop

A minimal black hole

Yuan Changming, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of 4 chapbooks (including Mindscaping  [2014]), is the most widely published poetry author who speaks Mandarin but writes English. Tutoring and co-editing Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver, Changming has poetry appearing in 969 literary publications across 31 countries, including Best Canadian Poetry (2009,12,14), BestNewPoemsOnline and  Threepenny Review.