First English Language Tanka Sequence about Diasporic Experiences
Published by A Room of My Own Press, ON, Canada
July first fireworks...
is there one among those stars
that guides my life
through this unknown
land of the maple leaf
Red Lights, 9:2, June 2013
My Dear Poets/Readers:
Today marked the 11th anniversary of the settling of my life in Canada. I would like to share with you my diasporic experiences in the form of a tanka sequence.
Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, a sequence of 40 tanka, was first published in Atlas Poetica, #15, July 2013. Many thanks to M. Kei for his continued support of my writing.
Based on the principles of progression and association employed in Japanese court poetry (for more information, see "To the Lighthouse: Principles of Progression and Association in Tanka Sequences," Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing is the first English language tanka sequence about diasporic experiences. In the sequence, I adopt an intersectional approach to exploring a wide range of issues related to immigration, English learning, racialized identity, racism, job seeking, colonization, acculturation, ...etc.
The following is the preface:
Following the Moon to the Maple Land
Welcome to Canada.
Name: Chen-ou Liu (phonic);
Country of Birth: R.O.C.;
(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan)
Place of Birth; Date of Birth; Sex;
simply more technocratic questions
the Immigration Officer needs to pin down my borders.
He is always looking for shortcuts,
more interested in the roadside signposts
than in the landscapes that have made me.
The line he wants me confined to
is an analytically recognizable category:
landed immigrant. My history is meticulously stamped.
Now, you're legally a landed immigrant.
Take a copy of A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada
I hope you will enjoy this e-chapbook as much as I did.
Many thanks for your continued support of my writing.
Chen-ou
Note: A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada was written and issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to give new immigrants helpful information for planning ahead, but it is not a detailed guide. For more information, they will be given another book called Welcome to Canada: What You Should Know. It contains specific information on all the practical aspects of living in Canada.
To the best of my knowledge, Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing is the longest tanka sequence that has ever published in a haiku/tanka journal.
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