酷我-北美枫

My Dear Fellow Poets:

I launched a new poetry blog on the first day of the year of the snake, 2013: NeverEnding Story, the first English-Chinese haiku and tanka blog, two of which sections are open for submissions (If everything goes well with my poetry blog, I'll publish Butterfly Dream 2013: Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku and One Man’s Maple Moon 2013: Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Tanka in April, 2014; for more information, please see the "Anthology Submissions" webpage)

NeverEnding Story is established to fulfill my butterfly dream portrayed in the haibun, entitled “To Liv(e),” which was published in Frogpond (official journal of Haiku Society of America), 34:3, Fall 2011. I hope it can bring the beauty of English language Japanese short form poetry to Chinese readers around the world. For more information, see About NeverEnding Story

Since its inception, NeverEnding Story has been well-received in the poetry communities it serves, and its haiku and tanka have been regularly reprinted in the five e-papers (as of now, NeverEnding Story has 7494 pageviews)

Most importantly, on the 5th day (Feb. 14) of Chinese New Year Festival, I launched a Chinese mirror website, 唱不完的詩歌: 中英雙語短詩網誌, putting NeverEnding Story on the literary map of “Cultural China.” For more information, see Hot News: 唱不完的詩歌, Chinese Mirror Website Launched.

歡迎轉載並請註明出處
敬請賜稿

Chen-ou Liu (劉鎮歐), former English Garden moderator

劉鎮歐生於台北，台灣。曾任大專教師，書香園廣播節目主持人，雜誌編輯和影評人。２００２年夏天，移居加拿大；２００９年秋天，開始英詩創作。已出版三本英詩集，Ripples from a Splash: A Collection of Haiku Essays with Award-Winning Haiku，Broken/Breaking English: Selected Short Poems，Following the Moon to the Maple Land (First Prize Winner of the 2011 Haiku Pix Chapbook Contest)；並獲得國際haiku 和 tanka比賽47個奬項。現任NeverEnding Story主編。歡迎參訪劉鎮歐的個人網站, Poetry in the Moment, 或讀他的2010 Simply Haiku 訪問 (with Robert D. Wilson) 和 2012 Lynx 訪問 (with Jane Reichhold)

My tanka:

the shining moon
that used to perch
on my childhood dreams
now hovers over
a rooming house

has received third place in the 2009 San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, and Rengay Competition sponsored by Haiku Poets of Northern California, and it will also be published in Mariposa.

The contest results have been posted at http://www.hpnc.org/

You can read the winning poems and judges’ comments there.

This award is my rebuttal to those criticisms made by Lake, 博弈, and others.

Many thanks to my readers!

Chen-ou Liu

Round I:

Live Happily under The Red Flag: Getting Your Poems Published

In response to some of the technical questions raised by Lake in his post entitled 关于 English Garden 栏目:

“加精有无标准？
是否作为斑竹就有权在自己的作品前随意插旗？
是否得到过发表的作品都应加精？”

As one of so-called “moderator(s)” of English Garden, I can speak only for myself:

For anyone who is interested in getting a little red flag put beside the subject line of one’s post, the golden rule is simple: getting your poems published in an accredited journal.

Any questions?

all ears
attuned to your words —
like ripples
chase the caress
of spring breeze

-- published in The Spring 2009 issue of Modern English Tanka

If there are no questions, let's start writing and get our poems published.

Then, each and every one of us can live happily Under the Red Flag.

Round II:

I've deleted all of these little red flags I personally put beside the subject lines.

My tanka:

the shining moon
that used to perch
on my childhood dreams
now hovers over
a rooming house

has received third place in the 2009 San Francisco International Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, and Rengay Competition sponsored by Haiku Poets of Northern California, and it will also be published in Mariposa.

The contest results have been posted at http://www.hpnc.org/

You can read the winning poems and judges’ comments there.

This award is my rebuttal to those criticisms made by Lake, 博弈, and others.

Many thanks to my readers!

Chen-ou Liu

(The following tanka sequence has been published in the issue No. 9 of Gusts, the official journal of Tanka Canada. I’m overjoyed that this month alone, my tanka have been published in three – Ribbons, Modern English Tanka, and Gusts -- of the Big Four tanka journals.

Now, I’m waiting for good news from American Tanka)

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

Dreams, Dewdrops, and Bare Trees

I

Taipei dreams
Ajax eyes waken --
my mind drifts
winged and yearning
for things not yet lost

II

in Canada
moist green touches my yard --
dewdrops
cling to blades of grass
just as I do

III

buried earth
a silver carpet --
maples and I
gaze at the barrenness
we see in each other

(The following tanka sequence has been published in The Spring 2009 issue of Modern English Tanka, a literary print journal with digital editions. Modern English Tanka (the official journal of Modern English Tanka Press which is the biggest and most influential publishing company dedicated to publishing and promoting fine English tanka), Ribbons (the official journal of Tanka Society of America), Gusts (the official journal of Tanka Canada), and American Tanka are called The Big Four tanka journals.

The most exciting things about this publication is that all of my submitted tanka (16 in total) have been accepted, and that I’m the only non-English speaking poet (65 poets in total) and one of the few poets whose tanka have been all accepted. The following tanka sequence is those related to winter thoughts; I will post the rest of my published tanka later)

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

If On A Winter’s Night, A Sojourner

I

distressed
in the wake of a dream
I hear
time passing
in the sound of snow

II

not seeing
we pass by each other
then disappear --
snow traces the weight
of each burden

III

winter night
a remnant moon --
raising my cup
shadow and I
drink to each other

IV

blasts of snow
slap my face
for pent-up lust
shivering
I return to myself

V

pounding snow squall
as the mailbox is opened
inside
anxious hands hold
an unopened letter

VI

peel away
one shovel width of snow
at a time --
one, two, three...
eyeglasses fog up

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

I Hear Calliope Humming (Erotic Poem for Average Joe), In Response to Champagne’s i HEAR Calliope Humming?!

Under the blanket
of night,
Calliope and I
do nothing
but chase each other.

I finally catch her;
half of her stiffens
and half melts away.
Every now and then
I hear Calliope humming …

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

Thinking of Li Bai While Waiting for Calliope

You promised
you would come to see me.
Through the lonely night,
I waited beneath the blossoms,
wondering if they kept their beauty
even when it was dark.

Raising my cup,
I enticed the moon,
for her, with my shadow
would make a party of three –
the moon knew
you were away from me.

Having never waited,
a woman like you
could hardly know
how long a night can be.

(Tanka V has been published in American Tanka, Issue 18.

I am overjoyed that this month alone, all of my tanka have been published in the Big Four tanka journals: Ribbons, Modern English Tanka, Gusts, and American Tanka)

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

Ramblings of a Fatigued Poet: My Life with Calliope (Tanka Sequence)

I

not seeing
we pass each other by --
in the corridors
of my dreams
I see you

II

waking alone
in the middle of a night
distressed --
you evade my glances
even in dreams

III

a garden blossoms
hues fluctuate
as seasons go
so does your heart
to me

IV

my life with you
like riding the merry-go-round --
it goes round and round
up and down
but gets me nowhere

V

a mouth
opening, closing
salivating --
my recollection
of a divorced man

Calligraphy of Geese (renamed here as Being Human) has been listed in the WPF Hall of Fame Honorable Mention. Wild Poetry Forum is named as one of the "101 Best Websites for Writers" by Writer's Digest. Calligraphy of Geese has been enthusiastically received since I posted it ten days ago, and it, along with my other two poems, was recommended by a poetry editor for publication in Kyoto Journal, which is one of the most influential Asian American Journals. Now, I am looking forward to hearing good news.

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

Being Human (A Tribute Poem to Ezra Pound)

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Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

Such is the Road I Have Traveled

ahead, two roads diverged
in the dim woods --
the journey was long

arriving at the fork
once again, I chose the road less traveled --
déjà vu

as the journey continues
I walk it fearlessly --
eternal return

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

The Rainbow Balloons Man

Soaked from the rain,
tears brimming in her eyes,
she knocks on his door.
He invites her in,
asking nothing because he knows
she needs mental rest.
Taking an offered towel,
she unexpectedly tells him,
He didn't come back.
Who?
The rainbow balloons man,
she yells out. My folks promised
he would come back.
In the back of his mind, he thinks,
Again, this decades-old broken promise!
Nettled by his unresponsiveness,
she asks, Didn’t your folks promise you anything
when you were a child?
My parents are war survivors;
so I never asked anything from them.
Oh, you're second generation.
We're all second generation of something. Anyway,
don't worry! He'll be come back.
Who?
The rainbow balloons man. I promise.

Darwin 200: A Life in Verse

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, who was considered the most dangerous man in the UK during his lifetime and even after his life.

Ruth Padel, Darwin’s great great granddaughter and award-winning British poet, publishes her seventh poetry book today, a mini-biography entitled Darwin: A Life in Poems.

Below are the excerpts from her book (via Book extract: Darwin: A life in poems by Ruth Padel):

I Think I shall Dislike it Very Much

(from Chapter Five: The coat of fur (1851-1882))

He's glad they're out there, young scientists,
ggiving the world his argument. It's out, it's done -
ggand he's spent nine years on plants.
gggNow The Descent of Man and Selection
ggin Relation to .. He's got to state, at last,
gghis vision of 1838, before they married.
'I shall be well abused.' She studies the first draft.

'I think it will be very interesting, but I
gshall dislike it very much. It is again putting God
ggeven farther off.' He thinks of an orang-utang
gggin a pink frock and frills, looking in his eyes,
ggbeing generous. Opening his palm
gto gift her treasure to him. Many moments in this marriage
have been saved - by both of them - with laughs.

(Editor's note: In 1868 Darwin published The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, and started the book on specifically human origins)

To be continued …

Cummingsian Question: Bushian English Gone with the Wind?

Before becoming the 29th President of the United States, Warren Gamaliel Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. However, he was known for mangling the language and his syntax-challenged English problems were exacerbated by his insistence on writing his own speeches. Upon his death, poet e. e. cummings said, "The only man, woman or child who wrote a simple declarative sentence with seven grammatical errors is dead."

If e. e. cummings were alive today, he might soften his harsh criticism. It’s because he could, in my view, have nothing left to say about the far more extravagantly syntax-challenged George W. Bush.

During his eight years in the Oval Office, Bush had the "great chance” to mangle language in the glare of the world’s media. Unconcerned with his losing battle with some basic English usage problems, but happy in his good luck to sit beyond the desk in the Oval Office, Bush told the 2001 graduating class at Yale: "And to the C students, I say, you, too, can be president of the United States."

ESL Competence Test: Try Your Hand at Bushian English

Take a close look at the following quotes gathered by Reuters reporter Jason Reed, have a good laugh, and see if you can spot the mistake:

(Note: Everyone can correct up to 4 sentences. Just let every participant have a chance of getting a good laugh)

1. "Kosovians can move back in."

2. "Keep good relations with the Grecians."

3. "If the East Timorians decide to revolt, I'm sure I'll have a statement."

4. "It is incredibly presumptive for somebody who has not yet earned his party's nomination to start speculating about vice-presidents."

5. "If the terriers and bariffs are torn down, this economy will grow."

6. "Governor Bush will not stand for the subsidation of welfare."

7. "This is Preservation Month. I appreciate preservation. It's what you do when you run for president. You gotta preserve."

8. "I do not agree with this notion that somehow if I go to try to attract votes and to lead people toward a better tomorrow somehow I get subscribed to some – some doctrine gets subscribed to me."

9. "I don't want to win? If that were the case why the heck am I on the bus 16 hours a day, shaking thousands of hands, giving hundreds of speeches, getting pillared in the press and cartoons and still staying on message to win?"

10. "Other Republican candidates may retort to personal attacks and negative ads."

11. "I'm very gracious and humbled."

12. "I did denounce it. I de – I denounced it. I denounced interracial dating. I denounced anti-Catholic bigacy."

13. "This case has had a full analyzation and has been looked at a lot. I understand the emotionality of death penalty cases."

14. "A tax cut is really one of the anecdotes to coming out of an economic illness."

15. "I am a person who recognizes the fallacy of humans."

16. "I don't want nations feeling like that they can bully ourselves and our allies. I want to have a ballistic defence system so that we can make the world more peaceful, and at the same time I want to reduce our own nuclear capacities to the level commiserate with keeping the peace."

17. "They said, `You know, this issue doesn't seem to resignate with the people.' And you know something? Whether it resignates or not doesn't matter to me, because I stand for doing the right thing, and the right thing is hearing the voices of people who work."

18. "They misunderestimated me."

19. "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors."

20. "Ann and I will carry out this equivocal message to the world: Markets must open."

21. "Whatever it took to help Taiwan defend theirself."

22. "Thirdly, the explorationists are willing to only move equipment during the winter, which means they'll be on ice roads, and remove the equipment as the ice begins to melt, so that fragile tundra is protected."

23. "I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves."

24. "Over 75 per cent of white Americans own their home, and less than 50 per cent of Hispanos and African-Americans don't own their home. And that's a homeownership gap. And we've got to do something about it."

25. "There was no malfeance involved."

26. "I need to be able to move the right people to the right place at the right time to protect you, and I'm not going to accept a lousy bill out of the United Nations Senate."

27. "The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production."

28. "Columbia carried in its payroll classroom experiments from some of our students in America."

29. "There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany where incapable of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong. Some say the same of Iraq today. They are mistakened."

30. "We've got hundreds of sites to exploit, looking for the chemical and biological weapons that we know Saddam Hussein had prior to our entrance into Iraq."

31. "That's why I went to the Congress last September and proposed fundamental – supplemental funding, which is money for armour and body parts and ammunition and fuel."

32. "We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge."

33. "Do you realize we've got 250 million years' of coal?"

34. "It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of – and the allegations – by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble – that means not tell the truth."

35. "After the bombing, most Iraqis saw what the perpetuators of this attack were trying to do."

36. "I was not pleased that Hamas has refused to announce its desire to destroy Israel."

37. "My brother Jeb, the great governor of Texas."

38. "I don't have to accept their tenants. I was trying to convince those college students to accept my tenants."

39. "How do you know if you don't measure, if you have a system that simply suckles kids through?"

40. "We ought to make the pie higher."

After reading and correcting these quotes, can you answer the Cummingsian question:

Is Bushian English Gone with the Wind?

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page

The Birth of Eric Liu on a Wintry Morning

Two years ago this month, on a wintry morning, I was ready to give up learning to write in English. I had been walking on the snow-covered streets of Toronto for almost an hour with no destination in mind. All of a sudden, feeling an uncontrollable urge to cry out, I stopped walking and raised my head, screaming at the top of my lungs about all the frustrations pent up since I chose to write in English exclusively a year before, “I’m really tired of starting over. No matter what I do, it gets wiped out. I want to leave something meaningful behind.” Everybody around me at the time was scared away.

pass by each other
then disappear --
footprints in the snow

Two years have gone by, swiftly and silently. I have always tried and always failed to succeed in English writing, but I still keep on writing. As the poet Robert Louis Stevenson once claimed, "Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits." Based on my own writing experience, I find that writing can be a way of paying attention and acknowledging traces, of revising and erasing. For me now, to write in English is to attempt, to make a run at something without knowing whether I am going to succeed. It points a way for me to function with relative freedom in the unfamiliar world of the alphabet, and it helps me to make myself up from moment to moment and to gradually turn my old Chinese self into a new one.

Eric, an alphabet apprentice
thwarted by time’s passing --
pines to be a poet

Reading and Writing: Life on the Page:

(I was notified by Dave Bacharach, Tanka Society of America Editor, that two of my six submitted tanka will be published in the Spring issue of Ribbons. I was really, really happy because Ribbons is one of the most influential English-speaking tanka journals and because its publication of my tanka will make me more confident to declare myself as a writer, who writes in his adopted language)

Life Sketches

I

for years now
I have known you --
chance glimpses
through gaps in the fence
in the backyard

II

meditating
while shovelling my driveway --
snow is just snow
yet sometimes not snow
but in the end snow

The following is the rest of my submitted tanka, which are still seeking "the shelter of the alphabet":

III

I listen
to my muted heart --
every cell
pulses, cries aloud
yet you hear nothing

IV

distressed
in the wake of a dream --
I hear
time passing
in the sound of snow

V

buried earth
a silver carpet --
maples and I
gaze at the barrenness
we see in each other

VI

in Canada
moist green touches my yard --
dewdrops
cling to blades of grass
just as I do