5 Poems by Allen Qing Yuan

Buddha Beads

17 spheres conceived by the flesh of earth and water
each one a wish,
to keep myself restrained by good faith

rich cocoa coconut shells, albeit grazes and nicks,
each one a wish
weathered and dropping

yet so creamy like euphony from the lips
each one a wish
unspoken but powerfully recited

inscribed with mini-mighty Buddhas
each one a wish
to be enshrined and embraced

the stretchy wire coiled through and up into delicate loops
each one a dying wish
heading towards where they're all tied up

the carvings of Asian depictions
each one a wish
for luck to somehow hang around my hands



*
Heartscaping: Three Chinese Characters  

思: thought takes place
      In the field of heart

闷: depressed when your heart is
      Shut behind a door

忍：tolerate with a knife
      Right above your heart


Matrix of Creation

Like water
Life flows along
                      Fiction rendered into fact

Like steam
Consciousness evaporates above
                                                        Evil turned into good

Like ice
Spirits crystallizes beyond
                                             Ugly made beautiful


Word Play

If you could
Which English word
Would you become? Which?

I would as lief
Be ‘life’:

 I may well turn out a ‘lie’
Without f--, but possessed in this word
My spelling contains many an ‘if’

    Yes, to live a life is to
Go through as many an if
As you might wish to wish


Last Prayer 

Jesus my dear Lord!

Were I
Really to have an afterlife
I hope to become a wolf, or
A fir, for instance

Just to be a bit more, or even less
    Than a human being


Bionote

Allen Qing Yuan, author of Traffic Light, is a 2-time Pushcart and 2-time Best of the Net nominee. A co-editor of Poetry Pacific, Allen is just starting to work as a junior accountant in Vancouver. Since grade 10, Allen has had poetry appear in more than 70 literary publications across 16 countries, which include Cordite Poetry Review, Literary Review of Canada, Poetry Scotland, Shampoo and Spillway.