Pumpkins

Arhats

squatting around in an open field

each flushed with protests

against frost coming all too soon

Buddha puts you there

to guard an entire season

but we will relocate you

to guard our rented houses

the last of a fast fading landscape

the last to ripen                                                           printable

Maize Amaze

A whole body of teeth

Nothing but teeth

To chew the passing summer

We bite off from you

All the pearl-like memories

Tinged with sunlight

A hard but juicy kiss                         printable

East Idioms (continued)

c/

when the lofty fir begins to dwarf

all other trees in the same forest

it will be knocked down flat

by the first storm at night

d/

the moment a bold pupil is dotted

inside each of its handsome eyes

the painted dragon jumps alive

and flies high above the sky

l/

deeply buried under the dirty silt

the lotus root is pure and clean inside

you break it into pieces widely apart

yet they still remain connected by the silk

m/

three days after the nightingale flew away

its calls are still circling around every tree

with its songs squatting at each leaf tip

like a dewdrop refusing to fall onto the ground

s/

on the bare ground, with a broken twig

she drew a picture of the serpent

as lively as her own tongue

except for some feet added, though pretty                                                printable

Dancing with Crane

I show her how to move her steps

But she’s much too timid

Worse still, she cannot coordinate with my movements

And

Although she dances with me, to an unheard melody

It’s her own music she’s dancing to

She likes the way I hold her

And

Even lets me kiss her shoulder from time to time

so richly white and velvety

But she always keeps me at bill’s length

Each time I come closer

She backs off with a glaring scream

What have I done so wrong?

What is in her mind?

Jumping off the stage

She shows her best, which is a scarlet crest

Like plum petals blown onto the wall of west

I beg her to return

And

So she did, but only to depart from me again

Outside the spotlight

She begins to beat her wide wings against my blue wishes

Her eyes sparkling, as if saying to me

I have my neck and legs

Both too thin and too long to be your partner here

In this cage-like hall

And

Worse still, she’s much too timid                                                        printable