Monday 5 August 2013

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.   


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