One afternoon, in the
Forbidden City,
People roam about --
Sightseeing.
The very next morning,
A single line of tracks
Through freshly fallen snow
Cuts across the very
Same yard.
Forbidden [Free Verse]
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Tag Archives: poetry
Snow Squirrel [Haiku]
chubby squirrel
scampers across crusty snow --
crunchlessly!
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Winter Woods [Haiku]
“Drinking Wine, no. 5” [饮酒·其五] by Tao Qian [陶潜] (a.k.a. Tao Yuanming [陶渊明])
I live amid a busy town,
But traffic sounds are never heard.
How can this possibly be true?
Deep in the mind, all is remote.
Picking 'mums by the eastern fence,
I peer at distant South Mountains.
Sunset flares in garish color.
Birds flock home in lines and clusters.
The scene conveys some great meaning,
But words to express it fail me.
NOTES: “Drinking Wine, no. 5” [饮酒·其五] is one of Tao Qian’s [陶潜] “Twenty Poems on Drinking Wine” [饮酒二十首.] It is the best-known piece from the collection. The original poem in Simplified Chinese script is:
结 庐 在 人 境,
而 无 车 马 喧.
问 君 何 能 尔?
心 远 地 自 偏.
采 菊 东 篱 下,
悠 然 见 南 山.
山 气 日 夕 佳,
飞 鸟 相 与 还.
此 中 有 真 意,
欲 辨 已 忘 言.
I’ve started reading a review copy of Arthur Sze’s Transient Worlds (from Copper Canyon Press, due out April 14, 2026.) The first chapter discusses this poem and various translations of it, encouraging readers to make their own translation. This is mine. For more information about the book, see: https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/transient-worlds-arthur-sze/
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Beetle [Lyric Poem]
A Beetle that was built like a tank
Crawled over a blazing riverbank
Now as any sane one would think
It should head straight for the drink
To cool off its little ole toes.
But as astute readers will know,
It hasn't really got any toes,
So, it can walk hot sands real slow.
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River Taco [Lyric Poem]
We kayak where lives Hippopotamus,
And hope it isn't submerged, a-bottom us.
With kayak a quite crunchy hard shell --
Us: savory filling that screams and yells, --
We'll be a three-bite river taco to hell.
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Chiaroscuro Clouds [Haiku]
at days end,
clouds not burning bright white
sink into black.
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Wind Snitch [Free Verse]
The straight-stemmed turbines
are tattletales,
telling all about the stealthy
thief sneaking overhead.
With no clouds in the sky,
the wind could slip
out over the treetops,
and no one would know.
But the turbines turn,
slow as Taiji titans,
letting no movement
go untaxed.
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Last Blossom [Haiku]
bloom-laden Cherry
tree attracts no viewers;
the last blossom does.
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Fly [Haiku]
fly in Summer,
buzzes around a cow --
dodging whip-tail.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 