Long Cantonese Poems

( A university-life vignette)

It’s Saturday morning. Lisa, Leong and I were in the common area, lazing about. “This is what happened to us (Lisa and I) last night.” I said, beginning to explain last night's...

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Thoughts can be thin fractures in the order of things.
Sometimes my dorm room seems a sterile sarcophagus, like an accusation, or an interrogation about my romantic choices, with nothing warm or inviting there. Sometimes I’ve...

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The Spaniel

A Spaniel that uses its head 
Can tell when its owner’s unfed 
So instead of a duck
That is down on its luck 
Will deliver a pizza instead
 
The Afghan Hound

The Afghan’s a dog groomer’s...

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(a university-life vignette)

It’s a Friday night, Leong and I are at a small restaurant close to the dorm called “Ordinary.” We’re in a cozy, pleasantly dark, little red booth—waiting for Lisa—who’s running late. This is...

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Peter (my bf) is coming to town - tonight. I’m breathy with excitement.
My energy is so sick. “Someone scrape her off the walls,” Leong remarked, as I bounded out of my room this morning.
Lisa winced,...

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I’m standing in the common room, turning in circles. I’ve so many things to do, all at once, I can’t figure out which way to jump. A time management problem, I suppose, maybe I should...

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It was 64ºf and overcast this morning when Lisa and I started our 5-mile jog to the Harbor and back. We always start our semesters this way. We’re emotionally ready for fall weather and hopefully,...

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The rat tiptoed to the house, picks up a thread
While the soft spoken black cat is, still, in bed
Sleepy, but, she is to battle it, to win, for today
To gain her breath, in solitude, for...

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Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (Toller)

To “toll” is to dance like a fox
Luring mallards or teals to the rocks
Where a hunter’s awaiting
What the dog has been baiting
Scaring duckies right out of their jocks

The Old English...

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I got this new hand soap, called “Frosted Coconut Snowball.”
It's the dreamiest scent ever.

When I’d unpacked (from Spring break) and had everything in place, I dragged Andy and Leong into my bathroom. Wash your hands,”...

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I’m a ‘bar-back’, I stack,
I pull up the crates, unpack and rack.
I hump boxes of glasses in,
then I hump them out again.
I roll barrels into a hand-cranked elevator,
then roll the empties into the club cellar
where...

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I’m a ‘bar-back’, I stack,
I pull up the crates, unpack and rack.
I hump boxes of glasses in,
then I hump them out again.
I roll barrels into a hand-cranked elevator,
then roll the empties into the club cellar
where...

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The sharpened mind - with care - takes aim
- at university, we play ruthless games.
Where pencils scratch, their graphite gray,
and scholarly answers take the day.

I've finished midterms!
It was like one of those TV shows, ‘survivor’...

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The recent lockdown certainly made family the center of everything - from fun to daily irritations. But after a month of being at college - which I know, objectively, isn’t long - those memories seem...

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A friend advised "Cheer up, buddy, and don't be blue",
strange of him to say that just when I was feeling low.
I was thinking, what was so colorful about being sad,
only showed his English vocabulary was...

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Lin, a Chinese friend giggled at my feeble, say,
pedestrian attempt at Cantonese,
the Chinese word for butterfly or dragon even moth 
just vanished down the throat of one
so eager yet befuddled,
turning egg shell noodles under spit...

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come 2016
or 2015
or 2017
whenever china’s economy exceeds that of the united states
(the year disputed circa. 2016)
and there is no longer any dispute over
who will be calling the shots in the world
from there on out
one has...

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Can I see him now…
Today is Friday, have you forgotten it?

Can I see her now…
Today is Friday, have you forgotten it?

I won’t take no as an answer,
Today is Friday, have you forgotten it?

I want to...

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Breathing in than breathing faster,
A perfect disaster this life of mine.
I need a drink while I'm still here waiting,
For this to all to be over and I'll be home.
To sit by myself and think for...

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I’ve been working on my website - it’s been neglected for so long.
I’ve been wearing out Spotify - I may have listened to every song.
I walk five miles a day - because you’ve got to...

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CHEESE

Wisconsin is the Cheese Capitol of the USA
There you can find cheese ever on display
And of this wonderful thing called cheese
There is a type for everyone if you please

There's Cheese Grits, and Nacho Cheese
Muenster, Guta,...

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On the fourth day I am crystal clear.
I step lightly.
I am an arctic god.
I slur no being, crack no shells.
I am vodka and ice in a quartz prism.

Day four is translucent,
a star-black taxi ride into...

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Years ago on Turkey Day
My father, in a snit,
Let traffic get the best of him,
Announcing, “This is it!”

He turned the car ‘round in a huff;
My mom’s pleas were rejected.
My aunt had planned a massive feast
At...

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On Sunday night, for years,
When it was time for us to eat,
We piled into the car to get
Some Chinese food, a treat.

My parents did the ordering
And mostly, they’d agree,
By choosing things from Column A
And also...

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A Canadian Love Song

Like JFK with Edgar Hoover, 
I'm completely ill at ease: 
it's as if I'm in Vancouver, 
but I speak no Cantonese. 

A Mountie's boot must have its stirrup, 
they say Brooke Nevin...

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