Poetic Musings: Lost Homeland Tanka by Chen-ou Liu

ten years later 

back to my country of birth 

an immigrant again 

unmoored by longing 

for a lost homeland

Honorable Mention, The British Haiku Society Awards 2022

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary (by the Judge): We live in a state of flux. The poet examines how time changes our memories and expectations until they become at odds with the present. In discovering this we develop more empathy for others.

Note: My tanka sequence below, In Taipei, I still long for Taipei, could be read as a further exploration of "how time changes our memories and expectations until they become at odds with the present:"

In Taipei, I still long for Taipei

ten years past

and alone in the moonlight

I have changed

and my hometown has changed

but we haven't changed together

I try to change

this idea of my hometown

people pass me by

with their eyes speaking in a code

that is foreign to me

the vendor asks,

are you from mainland China?

the look in his eyes

speaks the language

of a border guard

this journey

back to my hometown

ends 

with another one

on the road of no return

Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, 13, April 2023