At Qingming Festival
True, it can never grow
Like a real seed, but
My father’s bone ash is
So well planted there
In the rich soil of his
Native village, it has kept us
Hoping & hoping
For just another … more »
There is a jungle
With lime coloured vines
And trees
That wear their bark
The way that Green Mambas
Wear their skin.
I follow the sound of anklet bells
Deeper and deeper
Into this green
Praying
For just a glimpse… more »
Patriarchy
How is a daughter
named? My mother pleads
to the librarian tapping
dewey decimals for the Hanja dictionary;*
a weary oracle of bastards, retards
and girls. Perhaps she pulls
my eyelids; probing
for floaters, films,
blemishes, basic faults… more »
Möbius Strip
We thought my life
was following the same
curves as yours, Mama
but I was slowly
curling into the
T
W
I
S
T
of a möbius strip
and when I finally
straightened I became
the inverse of … more »
My first plane ride
took me to rain
splattering against the windows
of the cab
fingers were tightening
over mine
mother’s?
I knew
this was no vacation
the squat house stood
on the corner of autumn
dreamlike in its strangeness… more »
Working hard regardless of criticism,
I have succeeded;
Another year has passed by,
I would climb one story higher.
Rest and build up strength,
Will win every war in the business world.
Making big profits with a small capital,
The … more »
Particles
mirror each other
no matter
how far apart.
The butterfly,
the philosopher Zhuangzi —
who became the other?
The light turned on
by nobody at midnight,
when Grandfather passed away
a thousand miles afar.
My dear child,
when I … more »
I sit alone in a college lab
writing software code
to solve a jigsaw puzzle.
An exercise in
parallel processing.
I hear my own fingers
tap the cold keyboard.
Overtime erodes my bones.
Midnight, I step out into
the hilltop … more »
in memoriam
you watch her heaving chest where you once lay sleeping
hoping for it to last & you keep on thinking of the times
when she left & came back for you crying on the first day
of kindergarten … more »
She sits loud-spoken, settling stiff body on stiff mattress
with soft gray curls kissing
humid air and I watch
her hands sweep upward strokes, needle caressing
beanie baby with rat-punctured holes.
I swear she sparkled with the resiliency
of … more »