Thought-Mapping the World: a Chinese Character
Offers a definition of itself, as it marks the true
Limits of our thoughts. Examples are abundant:
星 /xing/ star: what can be seen after sunset
僧 /seng/ monk: someone who was once a man
忘 /wang/ forget: what occurs when the heart dies
泉 /quan/ fountain: being white above water
花 /hua/ flower: what is transformed from grass
仙 /xian/ immortal: a person living with mountains
您 /nin/ you: someone above the heart
鸿 /hong/ wild goose: a bird at the waterside
姻 /yin/ marriage: a woman being imprisoned
Feminine vs Masculine: a Cross-Cultural Poem
In Chinese, as in English, there’s no distinction
Between the feminine and the masculine in
Nouns, except for 男/man &女/woman or their
Pronouns, so we describe a bridge as beautiful
As a woman or as strong as a man.
It’s true
We conventionally treat Nature, a ship or
Our country as a mother-figure, yet there’s
No sexual differentiation in words or grammar
As we all try to seek the true-blue balance
Between yin & yang, beyond our speech acts
Time Flows
Standing by a river, seeing
How the water moved along
Heraclitus said, No man ever
Steps in the same river twice
While Confucius exclaimed
Time passes by just like this
Flowing away day and night
Though both sages were
Keenly aware of the constant
Change in the river, neither
Spotted the unseen islet in it
Where any one may live still in
The moment as if on Sommaroy
Let alone foresaw this modern fact:
While our world is so full of
Sundials, hourglasses, clocks
& watches, not a single second
Can be found from amongst them
“Thought Mapping the World,” “Feminine vs. Masculine,” and “Time Flows”
Yuan Changming
Three Questions for Yuan Changming
What inspired your choice of genre(s) and/or form(s) for your work?
The feeling I long to articulate, the idea to play with, or the vision to represent.
What was your creative process?
I can write poetry only when I feel truly inspired. After putting down whatever inspires me in words, I would leave the piece(s) in my poetry pool for a while, say, a week to a couple of months; then I would come back and keep revising and refining it until I feel reasonably satisfied. Finally, at the outset of each month, I would select a group of what I considered 'best' from my most recent writings, and send them out as simultaneous subs to various literary outlets.
What is the significance of this work to you?
Further exploration of the sub-genre I have invented or called "billingualcultural poems." I enjoy promoting cultural exchange through poetry.
Yuan Changming co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Writing credits include 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 3 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17) and 2149 other publications worldwide. A poetry judge for Canada's 44th National Magazine Awards, Yuan began writing and publishing fiction in 2022. His debut novel DETACHING, 'silver romance' THE TUNER and short story collection FLASHBACKS are available at Amazon.