3 Poems by Allen Qing Yuan

Traffic Light

Green, Yellow, Red

Step

Stop

Yet again I missed the light

What could have been

What should have been

My chance to burst to

The frontier of the background

Defining the jagged shimmer

Of the tender life force

But I wait, pondering

Is this a pre-carved destiny?

An aim, beyond ambition

Green, Yellow, Red

Step

Every Youthful Moment

Paving his own

Road, never backing

Down,

He does what he wants,

How he wants,

When he wants,

Making the light shine.

He has faith

In

The future

He’s facing towards.

Enjoying the golden age,

Remembering every page,

Of his life,

Written or unwritten,

He gives it his all, hoping he will not

                                                                 Fall,                                                                              

To

Every youthful moment.

China Charm: For Yuan Lai

Blood-red intertwined thread of life

Passing through a shadowed low point

The lid, lukewarm, dulled and dusty

Inside the glass of time

A five year old grain of rice

Remains odorless and recognizable

With it, a petite pretty green blue flower

Flourishing without air,

Its potential limited by its surroundings.

In scripted onto the smooth

Yellow-tinged surface of the rice

Are yuan qing, my Chinese name

Looking like two Taoist drawings

It is a single small grain,

But I never forget the wide summer fields

Swaying back and forth without a creak or swish

It hangs high on the high lamp head

Much like the dreams of China in my head

A Charming charm indeed

Restrained but living

Living but not thriving

Bionote

Allen Qing Yuan, born in Vancouver in 1995, has just finished high school and is to attend the University of British Columbia. Recently interviewed by Nostrovia!Poetry, Allen co-edits Poetry Pacific with Changming Yuan (Poetry submissions welcome year round at editors.pp@gmail.com) . Since January 2011 when he was still a 10th grader, Allen has had poetry published or forthcoming in more than 70 literary journals/ anthologies across 16 countries, including Blue Fifth Review, Cordite Poetry Review, Istanbul Literary Review, Literary Review of Canada, MOBIUS, Ottawa Arts Review, Paris/Atlantic, Oklahoma Review, Poetry Scotland, Spillway, Toronto Quarterly and Two Thirds North. His first poetry collection Traffic Light was released recently by Poetry Pacific.