Best Taiwanese Poems
As I set out
To jot down this poem
I had no earthly idea
Of what would transpose
And who all would be
Joining along
I'm as surprised as you
To these goings on
I don't recollect
Any of this being nearby
All the glimmer and glamor
Catching my eye
With my mind letting loose
In the wondering why
All of these characters
Are invading my rhymes
There are seals riding trikes
Uniformed Taiwanese
Clowns and their like
With smiley faced knees
Lepords in tights
Like we need more of these
A Kardashian or two
To put our minds at ease
Daryl Hall and John Oates
Singing loud 80's tunes
And what would be a poem
Without a cow jumping over the moon
Or a chimpanzee
Swinging through the stanzas with ease
Using the tails of snakes
Like a flying trapeze
There's even a racoon
By the name of Rocky we know
Using his Boogaloo
To sweep dust from the poem
And look it's Bob Hope
Selling soap on a rope
To keep it all clean
With a rated "G" tone
With so much going on
Inside of this poem
Guess it's best I stop here
As this has gotten rather long...
When it comes to falling in love with beautiful girls, it has its own rewards. But when it
comes to falling in love with an Asian girl, that's different. This Asian girl is so
beautiful, so sweet, so kind, it's like I'm in either China or Japan. I can't help, but
notice how awesome this beautiful, attractive Asian girl is. When I look into her eyes, I
see a pair of priceless black diamonds. Her hair is so soft and silky, it's like holding a
cloth from Egypt. And her face is the complexion of the sun. As a matter fact, she's the
sun that rises at the East and the West. When I look at this beautiful Asian girl, she
looks the moon that appears at night and a shining star. Whether she's either Chinese,
Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, or Taiwanese, I will always love her. I see this beautiful
Asian girl as my best friend, my future girlfriend, and the mother of my children. There's
more to life than just talking to Asian girls; it's being with one. And if I get married
to a beautiful Asian girl, we'll live happily after after.
Once again, young love has affected the lives of all teenagers, but this time, it's also
affecting the lives of all young interracial young lovebirds. All types of interracial
relationships have been active since the ending of the 1960s and when all of the schools
and other places have been integrated. It seems that two young people (a teen boy and a
teen girl) would rather date someone outside their race than dating the other that's
within the same race, that includes African American and white teen boys and girls. Like,
for when a black teen boy were to get into a real relationship with a teen white/Caucasian
girl, a teen Asian girl (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Malaysian,
Thai, or Filipino), a teen Hispanic girl, or a teen Middle Eastern girl, that would be
great for him. And if a black teen girl were to get into a real relationship with a teen
white/Caucasian boy, a teen Asian boy (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese,
Malaysian, Thai, or Filipino), a teen Hispanic boy, or a teen Middle Eastern boy, then
that's great for her, too. What love is trying to do to all teenage lovebirds, including
all interracial teen couples, is to have made them happy, especially when they're around
each other.And what this type of young love is also doing is promoting interracial love
around the entire American nation, including Massachusetts, Texas, Alabama, and
California. Interracial relationships among all teenagers are increasing in not just the
United States of America, but the whole world, as well. It also seems to everyone that
both lovebirds of different races will never stop loving each other, not even before the
year 2019. But then, interracial relationships among all teenagers do have a good impact
on then. Their parents (the mothers and the fathers of all different races) should be very
happy for their teen sons and teen daughters, especially when they know that their teens
are in love with each other. And if love among all teenagers continues to grow and grow
without stopping and that all interracial relationships were to increase, even before and
after the year 2020, this is going to be the greatest thing that has ever happened to all
teenage lovebirds nationwide.
An Asian girl is a beautiful princess in her own right. She's the crown jewel in the lives of all American guys, even me. Even though this awesome Asian girl doesn't have a crown on her head, she's still a princess in my eyes. It seems to me that she's the type of girl that I really want to be with, especially when we're going to get into a serious relationship in the near future. Whether she's either Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Thai, Filipino, Indonesian, or Malaysian, I still want to be with her. When I tend to look at her eyes, they look like a pair of black diamonds. And when I see her beautiful face, it's like looking at the face of an attractive angel. Her hair is so soft and smooth, it's like holding a silky cloth made entirely out of silkworms, especially when they're known for making good cloths. If only this Asian girl knew that I had so much love for her. And if I see this beautiful Asian princess (Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, or Malaysian), I'd express my love for her. I hope fate will bring us together soon.
In the beginning it was just a smell
a smell i could not quite make sense of
a smell that the city was, a smell that the people in it were
in the beginning it was just a smell
a smell that dragged swarms of people of their homes
onto the streets, into the trains, into the strangers’ eyes and their uncharted territories
slowly i realised
all cities are, first, smells to the outsiders
and Tainan was smell sound taste touch to me
there were moments when i felt
this city is just people, so many of them; how beautiful
that i do not know any of them, yet i know them all
sometimes i would think if i emptied the city of all these countless faces
and bodies jostling with each other, what would remain of the city? would it still beat if i put my ears into the hearts of the depeopled Shennong Street
at the dead of night?
i came to Taiwan for the same reason
that a Vietnamese, an Indonesian, or an American comes for,
to chase my dreams, to become more of me,
instead I became it
it wasn’t as easy and quick as they make it out to be;
it took time, for love has its own mysterious ways
i started to embrace Taiwan and its culture
huge numbers of scooters and cars
Everyone follows the traffic rules
wait patiently for the green signals
one in Tainan city never feels pity
city buses and t-bikes are the best friends of a wanderer in the city
people are always helpful,
they adore you as they adore ‘hello kitty’;
small parks almost at every half a kilometer
elderly people like Mr. and Mrs. Wang use them for exercise
sometimes the parks provide sweet beds to the homeless;
i often use the underground passage of the Tainan train station
i look at the people sleeping there
they have made their small worlds in the underpass
they eat, they sleep, they chat with their neighbours
people look quite strange and funny without boundaries around them
their small worlds haven’t yet known the ways of the boundaries, the frontiers; these people are happy in heavy rains and in extreme cold, are they happy?
Tainan has a home for everyone, i guess
when I feel bored, i go to the sea
and bathe in the sounds of its waves lapping against the shores
sunset-platform lets you enjoy the majestic sunset and calming breeze born of the boundless deep
_____to be continue in part-II
Interracial relationships are way better than all-white relationships, all-black
relationships, all-Hispanic relationships, and all-Asian relationships. They're still
considered a bunch of lovebirds, even though they're from different worlds. It's the time
of the month for a black guy to date either a white/Caucasian girl, a Hispanic girl, or an
Asian girl (Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, or Korean) and a black girl to date guys that
are outside the African-American race, as well. It seems that everybody's promoting a lot of
interracial relationships around the U.S. of A., especially Texas. Everybody's wondering
that if there will be interracial children involved and stuff. I think that two lovebirds
from different races would become great parents, raising all interracial families. Some of
those interracial relationships don't last long, but I beg to differ. Some of them do last
longer than just 72 hours or even a week. that's why I tend to find a girlfriend that's
outside the African-American race. I'll date either a white/Caucasian girl, a Hispanic
girl, an Asian girl (Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, or Vietnamese), or a Middle
Eastern girl, and then have mixed-raced children of my own. And if all interracial
relationships were to stay stronger than ever, that would be very awesome.
She was the apple of her father’s eyes
Both of them lived in an illegal hovel
He mother left to marry someone else
Jobless father accepts risky tasks all.
Take tasks often dangerous and not cool
To keep his daughter well fed and clothed.
And then a time comes to send her to school
By a better school she was admitted.
But the child welfare workers interfere
Remove from his care sends to foster home
Can live with mother, legal guardian
None of them can live without each other
Desperate, did all to get her back home
What a quest of selfless love for loved one.
+++
August 30, 2014
Form: Free Verse
Inspired by the Taiwanese Movie "Cannot live without you" (2009)
Ninth Place win
Contest: No 13 by Linda
The concert had been perfect ...
Chaka and Al Jarreau on the grass at Foxwoods
A dry and warm July evening
Sleepy full moon peeking up over the horizon
(As if checking to make sure the jealous sun had set)
Then rising ever-so-cautiously
Like a gold doubloon tossed in slow-motion
We drove to Prospect Park and climbed the hill with a blanket
Laying it out when we reached the top
Then sitting down to watch the lights of Boston
There was a tangible magic in the air
One of those nights when something grand speaks to your deepest being
Telling you that for this rare and precious moment
(A moment that could stretch to forever)
All was right in the Universe, and nothing would or could go wrong
Thirty years ago, yet I remember every detail
The way her fingers filled the spaces in mine as we ran up the hill
The scent of her Je Reviens perfume
Mixing with the aroma of newly-mown grass
The exquisite silkiness of her tan Taiwanese skin
Her raven hair hanging around her face like a dark halo
Spicy, luscious chili pepper lips tugging mine
Quiet but intense little sighs of pleasure and encouragement
And her eyes ... oh her eyes, like cool-and-glassy mountain pools at night
The distant lights of the city shimmering softly within
Swimming in the dreamy depths of her gaze
Like the fireflies that swam in the air around us
Telling me all I needed to know, all the things her body spoke to me
The soul-deep-and-sexy things that my body answered ...
Sweet ... vulnerable ... delirious.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Completely Your Choice (33) Any Theme, Any Form" Poetry Contest, Brian Strand, Judge & Sponsor.
~ 1st Place ~ in the "Verses Of Metaphors II" Poetry Contest, Laura Loo, Judge & Sponsor.
a flash of light ...
thunder clapped like cannons as
into the old tree
we scurried ...
the mouth of its little
hollowed-out gut, yawning like some
tired old man from a Dickens story ...
perhaps the chin of the
ghost of Jacob Marley, let loose in
horrid fashion from its
binding bandages ...
the soft pine-needle
floor of the space inside was
long enough to lay down on,
but not very wide,
so we squeezed together like shoes
in a box, rain pouring all the more,
and dripping off the scarred
cedar bark onto her coal-black,
jasmine-scented tresses -
damp ponytail resting coyly
on my bared shoulder ...
what now?
I could tell we both thought,
and the question hung in awkward
silence between us,
rain pattering like mice on a tin roof,
her almond Taiwanese eyes
looking at me for reassurance,
though I had no more experience than she in such situations ...
still, I crimped the edges of my
mouth up in the gentle attempt at a smile,
and she returned it, eyes
sparkling with a "yes" ...
odd, that we had
barely reached our teens,
for what came after that first shy, testing,
cotton-candy kiss, played out like
some grand romantic movie
on the big screen,
becoming a magical dance of
confusion and excitement,
and frightened, fumbling flesh -
a rain-spattered, dreamy
interplay of limbs that
seemed to hold time in its place …
'til we emerged hours later into
the golden glow of dusk,
covered in soft scratches and pine needles,
in a sweet post-passion delirium,
and quietly walked home,
(in different directions),
through the dimming mist,
never to speak of it …
again ...
well …
she moved away with her
family not long after, and though we had
promised each other to
stay in touch, I only received one post
card from her months later,
telling me about a boy she'd met,
and how they'd kissed on
their first date ...
as if what had taken place in
that old tree, deep in the
woods that rainy July afternoon,
was no more than a lark -
no more than a dream or charm or
thistle on the breeze ...
except ...
it WAS more ... for me
it was the most REAL thing -
the most tender thing,
the most precious
and sweet
and life-changing thing ...
it was the most fearfully beautiful,
most wonderfully frightening,
most exquisitely complicated thing,
that I have ever, ever ...
known.
The night air,
waters (somewhere) burble.
A deer in the dark
hoof-crunches
yesterday’s now 12 degree snow.
A mouse moves. In sudden urgency.
Unseen all.
Unnoticed, none.
The moon is lost in wane,
in fog, in the coldest hour.
I balance a bundle of barky splits
in the fold of my arm. Indentations.
Scratches.
The stove awaits. The kettle, too.
Nearly midnight.
Poetry soon. Beneath the maple
silhouetted only by my memory of
the corner of Sky shared in
differing times by first the sun
and then the moon or first the moon
and then the sun.
Taiwanese whole-leaf, tightly bound.
Soon to unfurl in the new heat.
Some rinds to plop in, too.
The necessaries will wait,
tonight.
The tea, the fire, the words
won’t wait,
tonight.
They are the Actual Necessary.
I come to them in dark.
To drink of their light.
They call to me in dark.
To offer me their light.
Ode to Harris
So they showed you
the politics of poetics
showed you how to sculpt
quotations
as if discreetly yours
sure-e-e...
they told you of your godhood
at Harvard
but they crucified you at Rowan Tree
fourteen light stained pages
4.95
6-15-00
__
Watching years go by
like the wax flow of candles
making mountains on
unblemished parchment
can’t help but wonder
what the light was ever used for
11/12/00
Facing South
Dusting off my polarity
I face North
and wonder what force
has brought me here
Concrete
Ehhhkhhkhhkkkk-uhhhuhhhuttuttt
sounds the forming of a citadel
ingredients flow in steps
(Fernando understands it all in Spanish)
The joviality of the foundation
is overcome with glee when
work is done
sitting among the leaves
and unrecyclable debris
I wonder, giving an entourage of words to meaning,
is this not concrete?
but what a venture!
so somewhere down the line
perceived madness will transform
into old age
as greatness is perceived
by those who lost the least
Work Bench
Aromatic flow
in an autumn breeze
smells of home
and 3/4” 4x8 sheets of plywood
fighting the mathematics of a
Taiwanese circular saw
the dry pulp blood
covers my cloths
smiling perplexed by an ancient memory
can almost feel time weathered hands
brushing sawdust from my hair
looking down
the cut clamors to the ground
12/28/00
The sunsets of my loneliness
silent thoughts of what was believed
unbreakable
life’s path is always mistakable
for the consistency of coincidence
to a love alone
The pencil is my heart
The paper is my burden
And the love on this snowy evening
is the focal point of my existence
AN INTERLOPING BIRD’S MIGRATION
Flew the bird from my
windowsill
Floating away like child
blown dandy-lions
Dissipated in the peachy air
of sunrise
Calling, calling “Birdie, Birdie
crash your cresting thoughts over me.”
(In darkness though, words are intricacies
of ice on glass)
The Thoughtless, Heartless, Do-Nothing Congress
Another day of carnage
In the USA
Little children
Eight, nine, ten and eleven years old,
Their life cut short,
By a mad person
With an automatic rifle
What will we all do?
Every week
More innocent people are
Victims of violent shootings,
Where is the Congress?
The Thoughtless, Heartless, Do-Nothing Congress
Children died at Sandyhook in Newtown, Connecticut,
Innocent babies,
Only five or six years old,
Never to celebrate another birthday,
To hug their Mom and Dad,
To watch TV,
Go to a ball game,
Go see a movie,
All over forever,
Now the same for
These children in Uvalde, Texas,
Never to play ball again,
Or learn to dance,
Or play a musical instrument,
Or wait for Santa Claus,
All over forever,
Where is the Congress?
The Thoughtless, Heartless, Do-Nothing Congress,
People in Buffalo going about
Their lives,
Doing their grocery shopping,
Even planning for a birthday party,
But a madmen came
And now they’re gone forever,
Innocent people in a movie theater
In Denver, Colorado,
Murdered by an insane gunman,
High-school students in Florida,
A Congregation at a Taiwanese church
In California,
Enjoying their luncheon,
A deranged gunman
Came to their church
With a gun,
Where is the Congress?
The Thoughtless, Heartless, Do-Nothing Congress,
We don’t like to think mean thoughts,
But if it were someone dear to them,
A law would have been passed already,
But
We the People
The Average Joe and Lucy,
The teacher, the secretary, the store worker,
The hairdresser, the carpenter, the librarian,
The aviation engineer, the truck driver,
The fireman, the policeman,
The dentist, the doctor,
The veterinarian,
The writer,
The singer,
The actor,
The artist,
And the plumber,
The electrician,
The salesman,
The garbageman too,
No matter if you
Are white, black, Hispanic,
Asian, or Native American Indian,
We the People
Don’t seem to count anymore
Where is the Congress?
The Thoughtless, Heartless, Do-Nothing Congress
We the People
We the People
We the People
We the People
We the People
Celine Rose Mariotti
Nguyen was quite a linguist
She spoke
Chinese
Japanese
Taiwanese
Vietnamese &
Cantonese
But not Americanese ~
Couldn't bling helserf to say 'Prease'
~ Taichung Along with Mitch ~ *
Rock-ribbed conservative
Savvy, cautiously combative
Mitch McConnell his name, of course
His wife, Elaine Chao, a tour-de-force
____________________________________
*Taichung is the second most-populous city
in Taiwan, with 2,759,000 residents. Elaine
Chao, Mitch's wife, is Taiwanese-born.
New Year's Day,
false prophets emerge from champagne bubbles
predicting the end of mankind,,,they may be right this time.
In Red China, it's the year of the green wood snake
Poised to slither into Taiwanese air space.
Persia and the red bear are vomiting on the planet again
seemingly without a care-eternally hell bent.
Beneath mountains, elitist and powers that be
have built vast doomsday cities.
Hoarding false status and blood wealth
preparing for the end times-the singing of the dove...
and they call me crazy for harboring
a two-month supply of crumbs and caliber
a futile effort to protect what I love.
delay the afterlife....but why.
I've noticed for a long time-smiles are hard to come by
In the big easy, a sleeper cell came alive.
My prayers for peace-died on the vine...once again
Inauguration day is on the star spangled Horizen
The newly elected, circled by congressional vipers.
He's been bloodied again and again...but still thrives
Some call him a patriot, the savior of the republic
others chant he's the anti-Christ-
The green wood snake and the great red bear
would love to put a claw and fang to his hide.