5 Poems by Yuan Changming

Listening to the Mountain Murmuring 

Twenty minimeters of pink petals.

Twenty minimetres of stretch and reach
Floral foil, twenty minimeters
Of soil, grass, dew, bush

Sitting in green meditation about

The balance between yin and yang

Myriad of leaves,
Falling down with mists

Of last night approaching – twenty minimeters

Of ethereal presence, kissing
The thick ridges – is the soul

The melody of equanimity?
Insects sloughing off

In chameleon-rhythms.
You stopped as you heard them

Twenty minimeters of dandelions rolling against
The vastness of sky and mountain


Hook 

Just how, you were thrown into the water
Under the current and close to a snag

You can’t feel the sun light
Without being reflected

When a fish swims by here
You run into a nasty urchin, tantalizing

As we are all being tantalized
For a tiny catch


Way to Epiphany  

With a storm
With a gull
With your breath

Goes the thought
With a vague vision
Beyond the bogland

With your heart
Hawking aloud in the wild
With dripping blood

An unformed concept
A shoal of consciousness
Bubbling with feeling

With a photon
With a quantum
With your mind concentrated
On a twisted other


Towards Taoism

To/To
Seek/Balance
Yang/Yin
From/With
Yin/Yang
     Is/Isn’t
The same/The same
    As/As
To/To
Seek/Balance
Yin/Yang
From/With
Yang/Yin
Before/Unless
We/You
                          Zigzag/Zagzig
Our Path/Your Way
With/Without
A thought/Any feeling
About/Towards
Nature/God


Brief Bio of a Leaf

Whitening to recall a snowy day

Greening to promote spring

Yellowing to store summer sunlight

Oranging to reflect a morning glow

Reddening to catch the smile of a setting sun

Purpling to flirt with evening winds

Blackening to return to the root at night

A full spectrum of the sunlight
A full spectrum of the season


Bionote

Changming Yuan, 9-time Pushcart and one-time Best of Net nominee, started to learn English in Shanghai at age 19 and published monographs on translation before moving out of China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific in Vancouver; publication credits include Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Poetry in Voice, Threepenny Review and 1289 others across 39 countries.