Three Poems | Yuan Changming
Mindful Mindset
1/ Here: Into the Reality
You see, here’s the leaf dyed with the full
Spectrum of autumn; here’s the dewdrop
Containing all the dreams made on the
Darkest corner of last night; here’s the
Light pole in the forest where gods land
From another higher world; here’s the swirl
You can dance with to release all your
Stresses against the Virus. Here you are in
Deed as in need embracing
The most
Mindful moment, when you can readily
Measure your feel with each breath, but do
Not think about time, which is nothing but
A pure human invention. Just point every
Synapse of yours to this locale. Here is now
3/ Now: The Art of Living
With my third eye I glaze into
The present moment, & there I find it
Full of pixels, each of which is
Unfurling slowly like a koru into
A whole new brave world that I
Can spend days, even months to watch
As if from
A magic kaleidoscope
Love Lost & Regained: for Helena Qi Hong
1/ A Rambling Sentence for Love Lost
How I sometimes wonder
Whether it is because you wear
Your years so well or because the years
Wear you so well that I fell in mad love with
You after as long as 42 years of separation without
Knowing each other’s whereabouts, again at first sight
With the whole Pacific Ocean between our shortening arms
2/ A Periodic Sentence for Love Regained
At a fairyfly-like moment
On a bushy corner of nature
Preferably under a tall pine tree
In Mayuehe, our mecca or the hilly village
Adjacent closely to the bank of the Yangtze River
With myriad tongues from my hungry innermost being
Each eager to reach deep into your heart, where my soul’s
Fingers could caress every single synapse of your feminine feel
Between the warmth & tenderness of love, across the Pacific & the Pandemic
I’ll join you
Dusk Walk
Taking a walk around the neighborhood at sunset
Leaves rustling as if crows have just flapped by
In the twilight sky, the moon looms-
What if such loomings vanish into an unknown space
As clouds exchange their feels in a hurry?
Seeing a passer-by coming my way, I derailed my body & thought alike
What if the planet really comes to a pause during the Pandemic?
What if social distancing becomes the order of the day for ever?
What if the season, in other words, lasts between rain and snow?
Seeing two teenagers approaching, I jumped aside and hip-hoped
On the curb edge like a lousy dancer as they ran along
What if the doors of my homeland remain close until I am too
Old or too weak to move to see & kiss my first & last love?
What if my family cannot afford to immigrate to Mars from this burning
Or frozen planet? What if another huge meteorite hits earth hard enough?
Seeing a dog-walker come up, I quicken my steps and turn
To an empty sidewalk, smelling marijuana like dog’s fart
What if what I know is neither true nor false if
Thought against reality?
Photo by Helen Cramer on Unsplash
Bio
Yuan Changming hails with Allen Yuan from poetrypacific.blogspot.ca. Credits include 12 Pushcart nominations & chapbooks (most recently ALL MY CROWS) besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline & Poetry Daily, among 1929 others. Yuan both served on the jury and was nominated for Canada’s National Magazine (poetry category).
