Poetic Musings: Following the Moon to the Maple Land by Chen-ou Liu

for my first Canada Day, July 1, 2003

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 landscape that has made me.

The line he wants me confined to

is an analytically recognizable category:

immigrant. My history is meticulously stamped.

Now, you're legally a landed immigrant.

Take a copy of A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada.

from Lake Ontario

I scoop the Taiwan moon

distant sirens

Contemporary Haibun Online, 10:2, July 2014

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary: The title and dedication, "Following the Moon to the Maple Land / for my first Canada Day, July 1, 2003," immediately establish a dual physical and symbolic journey. By grounding the piece in a specific national holiday, the author infuses the narrative with cultural resonance, allowing the historical weight of the date to speak for itself without heavy-handed exposition.

The opening lines mimic the sterile, clinical language of official immigration forms. This technical data entry stands in stark, poignant contrast to the narrator’s rich inner life. The parenthetical intrusion, "(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan)," instantly injects geopolitical and personal complexity into the scene. Through a simple bureaucratic instruction, the text captures a profound crisis of identity, sovereignty, and displaced history.

The haibun’s emotional core lies in its central metaphor:

He is always looking for shortcuts,

more interested in the roadside signposts

than in the landscape that has made me.

In this layered yet accessible image, "signposts" represent rigid, official categories, while "landscape" embodies lived history, culture, memory, and personal identity. The strength of this passage lies in its emotional restraint. The speaker never explicitly states feelings of diminishment or alienation; instead, the prose trusts the reader to infer the subtle violence of being reduced to a bureaucratic category.

The concluding haiku delivers a powerful, unresolved finish:

from Lake Ontario

I scoop the Taiwan moon

distant sirens

Here, the moon acts as a bridge rather than a barrier. L1 anchors the speaker in their new geographical reality ("Lake Ontario"), while L2 preserves their internal, emotional geography ("Taiwan moon"). The action of "scooping" suggests an active attempt to hold onto one's heritage. Crucially, L3—"distant sirens"—cuts through any potential sentimentality. This auditory disruption yanks the reader back to an unfamiliar, urban present, serving as a reminder that immigration is an ongoing psychological negotiation rather than a static, completed event.

The title itself warrants deeper appreciation. By choosing "Following the Moon to the Maple Land" over explicit prose terms like "immigration," the author favors poetic suggestion over documentary literalism. The "moon" serves as a universal constant linking two distant shores, while "Maple Land" gently invokes Canada through its natural landscape rather than its political borders. This opening choices primes the reader for a narrative focused on emotional topography rather than legal status.

Added: The following is my reflection on Canada Day, 2026

the Maple Leaf

billows on July First …

the added hyphen

weighted with ancestral names

before Canadian

A Room of My Own: Drifting in White Ribbons Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIII

written on Canada Day Eve

twilight mist

drifting in white ribbons

over the river ...

thoughts of staying or going

tangled in my immigrant past

FYI: This could be read as a sequel to the following gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII

A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go

“I used to be” in the folds

of my Walmart smile

NeverEnding Story, December 14 2025

This gembun could be read as a sequel to my tanka below:

at winter twilight

should have, could have, would have

are a boulder

rolling down the hill of life

I push it up, and yet ...

Gusts, 39, Spring/Summer 2024

And this tanka could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting

of summer clouds

mother

lets go of my hand

. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLIV

a fork in the road —  

thoughts of returning

to my homeland

as a blue butterfly veers

into the narrower trail

A Room of My Own: Tel Aviv’s Sunset Tanka

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVII:  "Israelis leaving in record numbers"

I turn, turning back 

to see Tel Aviv’s sunset

for the last time ... 

this new neighbor’s words fade

in Toronto's snowfall

FYI: +972 Magazine, January 7 2026: Why Israelis are leaving in record numbers

Over 150,000 citizens have left the country in the past two years alone — many of them with a one-way ticket and no plans of returning.

And this tanka is a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXI: "beach party and booms"

written in response to The New Yorker, July 28, 2025: Israel’s Zones of Denial

Tel Aviv's beach party

the faint boom, boom, boom

from Gaza

NeverEnding Story, July 30 2025

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXVIII: "incarceration crisis"

hands starfished

against detention windows --

candlelights swell

FYI: Haaretz, January 14 2026: Mass Arrests With Nowhere to Hold Them: Overcrowding Deepens Israel's Incarceration Crisis

A growing number of Palestinians suspected of illegal entry are being held in police custody in overcrowded cells, even told to 'defecate on each other.'

And this is a sequel to the following:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLI: "Sde Teiman"

crimson twilight

at the edge of Sde Teiman 

a scream snaps in two

NeverEnding, November 15 2025 

FYI: +972 Magazine, Independent Journalism from Israel-Palestine, NewsLetter, Nov. 18, 2025: Torture, neglect, and starvation: new data reveals 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXIX: "smoky moon"

from charred trees

to ruins of empty houses

smoky moon over Gaza

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLXX: "the yellow line"

a ponytailed girl

holds her brother’s hand

to search for firewood ...

"pop, pop" near the yellow line

take out the hidden threat

FYI: Haaretz, Jan. 15 2026: Three Months Into Gaza Cease-fire: Israel Expands Control and Razes Neighborhoods

Added:

still-born birthday

the sparkling window frost

in her nursery

Added:

for "Heated Rivalry" stars Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander

hockey stars

fight each other on the ice 

then burn red-hot 

elsewhere -- eyes after eyes

glued to the screen, sparkling

A room of My Own: Immigration Gembun

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XLII

A new life in this promised land of milk and honey, where my veil of forgetfulness drapes like a shroud.

shoppers come and go

“I used to be” in the folds

of my Walmart smile

FYI: The "folds of one's smile," clinically known as nasolabial folds, are the natural creases in the skin running from the sides of the nose down to the corners of the mouth... Over time, these folds can become deeper and permanently visible (static lines) due to various factors, including:

Natural aging: The skin loses collagen and elastin, proteins that provide structure and elasticity.

Repetitive facial expressions: Frequent smiling and laughing reinforce the creases in the skin.

And this gembun could be read as a sequel to my tanka prose below:

The Point of No Return

On the day of my emigration to Canada, a land of maple leaves and snowflakes that will eventually bury my past.

a parting

of summer clouds

mother

lets go of my hand

. . . and of my heart

Ribbons, 16:1, Winter 2020

Added:

new immigrant’s gaze

raindrops on maple branches

laced with snowflakes

Added: written in response to Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting

and for Ahmed al-Ahmed's courage, which reminds me of the following remark: 

The sole purpose of human existence

 is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

 

-- Carl Jung 

The candlelight flickers, defining and defying the gathering dark.

mass shooting news ...

another Hanukkah candle

glows on

FYI: During the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights (evening of Sun, Dec 14 -- Mon, Dec 22, 2025), an additional candle is lit each night, until all eight are burning on the final night. 

And Ls 2&3 of the haiku could be read as an allusion to the following remark:

The proper response, as Hanukkah teaches, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.

-- (often attributed to) Rabbi Nachman

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCLVII: "Israel blocking shelter supplies"

written in response to Al Jazeera, Dec. 11, 2025: Gaza’s camps brace for floods as Israel blocks key shelter supplies

one single breath

life and death divided

by indifference

in soaked tents Gazan kids curl

with eyes gazing heavenward

Added:

talk of war

a mourning dove fades

with the last light

Added:

more war news ...

on the power line

a mob of crows

A Room of My Own: Promised Land Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXVIII

in this promised land

my immigrant life compressed

to hard working 

and light sleeping between jobs ...

fresh morning in my broken world 

FYI: L5 alludes to the following lines:

...

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

I beg of you...

Mary Oliver, "Invitation," Red Bird, 2009

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXIX

stringing 

and unstringing this old erhu ...

My Hometown

the song I come to sing

remains sung in my heart

Added: 

a riot of colors

in my neighbor's garden

at its edge

Foreclosure tilted 

in breezy sunshine

Added:

a long lineup

at the recycling station

in his cart

empty bottles and cans 

taller than this street kid

Added:

Good Friday afternoon

the white church steeple's shadow

darkens a stray

FYI: This haiku could be read as a prequel to the following:

whitewashed church

on the street corner a black man

with a crown of thorns

NeverEnding Story, October 5 2022

FYI: Ls 2&3 allude to "Black Jesus."  Black theology envisions Jesus Christ as one who stands on the side of the oppressed people, blacks, and is one with them, over against the oppressor.

Added: Trump Empire, Inc., XXIII

shoulder to shoulder

protesters chant, Not Our King!

holding a giant banner,

Vladimir Putin walks

Donald Trump on a leash

Added:

in his $50,000 

three-bedroom ranch-style rental home

the Richest Man sneers

homeless men? Just drug zombies, 

needles and human feces on the street

FYI: Yahoo! Finance, April 4: Elon Musk sold his seven mansions for more than $100 million and now lives in a $50,000 three-bedroom ranch-style rental home in Boca Chica, Texas

The Independent, Dec. 13, 2024: Elon Musk calls homelessness a ‘lie’ and ‘propaganda’ — and Trump is listening

“Homeless is a misnomer. It implies that someone got a little bit behind on their mortgage, and if you just gave them a job, they’d be back on their feet,” he told former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson in October. “What you actually have are violent drug zombies with dead eyes, and needles and human feces on the street.”

The more money spent combating homelessness, “the worse it gets”, according to Musk.

And Los Angeles Times, April 20: Lancaster mayor's remedy for homelessness: 'Free fentanyl' and 'a purge'

A Room of My Own: Time to Re-Home Tanka

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XXXII

time to re-home

as Canada Is Closed Now 

gets loud and colder

in early snowfall these choices

I make re-make me

FYI: This is a sequel/answer to my tanka prose below:

Re-Homing?

During his much-anticipated debut appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, bantered with the host throughout most of the interview. Answering trivial questions Americans might have for Canadians, he got canned laughter and applause as he tried to set Canada apart from the U.S. His host prompted, "But I don't know everything I should know about Canada. Imagine I come from a country that think mostly about themselves. I hear really good things about Canada, then sell me."

The Prime Minister's response was typical at first. "Canada is the best country in the world, has beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes, ...Oh, and Canada has three coasts: east, west and the Arctic." Then he paused for a moment with his media-trained smile and continued to emphasize Canadian uniqueness. "The thing is, everyone focuses on the land, but really, Canada is about the people. It’s a range of people from every possible background who come together and -- a little different from the melting pot in the United States where everyone gets to be American -- we try to celebrate differences, and people keep their cultures and keep their languages."

I turn off the TV and go to bed, but I cannot sleep and stare through a hole in the attic roof at a dreamless sky. The Prime Minister's photogenic smile and lofty words keep hovering my mind, recalling his 2015 campaign slogan: "My friends, sunny way, sunny way! Real change is on the way."

stuck in traffic

as lines of protesters chant

"no more immigrants" ...

I wonder if beside my name

the hidden asterisk re-emerges

during lunch break

I drink another cup of coffee

dark and bitter ...

behind my back coworkers mimic

"you're flawed not a fraud"

streaks of crimson

swallowed by the night sky ...

the cries of snow geese

again rewilding

my immigrant heart

contemporary haibun online, 20:3, 2024

(Note: Chinese Mandarin speakers often have a tough time learning l's and r's later in life)

Toronto Star, Nov.14: Clear majority of Canadians now say there’s too much immigration: The results from the long-term tracking poll break with a quarter-century of results.

Make That Change, Nov.30: How 2024 Changed Immigration to Canada Forever

And Reuters, Dec. 2: Canada pulls refugee welcome mat, launches ads warning asylum claims hard

TORONTO (Reuters) - Once presenting itself as one of the world's most welcoming countries to refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online ad campaign cautioning asylum-seekers that making a claim is hard.

The C$250,000 ($178,662) in advertisements will run through March in 11 languages, including Spanish, Urdu, Ukrainian, Hindi and Tamil, the immigration department told Reuters. They are part of a broader shift in tone by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's unpopular government on immigration and an effort to clamp down on refugee claims.

Migrants have been blamed for high housing prices, although some experts argue this is a simplistic explanation, and polls show a growing number of Canadians think the country admits too many newcomers.

The four-month campaign is budgeted to cost a third of the total spend on similar advertisements over the previous seven years.

And CBC News, Nov. 19: Skilled newcomers are leaving Canada in record numbers

Added: 

smell of winter

boxes of youthful dreams

behind the outhouse

Added: Between Heaven and Hell, XIV

Beneath the Moon, under the Sun

late night jazz

with shades of moonlight

this simple lift, yet...

gold-tinted morning

half awake to this world

bitcoin-crazed

FYI: The New Yorker, Dec. 8: How Long Will the Trump Crypto Boom Last?

As a pro-crypto Administration prepares to take power and crypto investors cheer, there are some parallels with the dot-com boom of the late nineties.

Under the leadership of Gary Gensler, whom President Joe Biden nominated as chair in 2021, the agency had taken an aggressive approach toward an industry that Gensler described as rife with fraud and scams. The S.E.C. filed lawsuits against numerous crypto firms, including the crypto exchange Coinbase and the digital-payment network Ripple.

Poetic Musings: It is always three o'clock in the morning by Chen-ou Liu

It is always three o'clock in the morning

day after day.

the ghostly past

lurking around the corner

of my mind ...

with a scalpel of words

I stab into its heart

However, my immigrant past is never ...dead -- gone and forgotten. It is not even past.

 

Distressed and alone by the bedroom window, in the wake of a dream about a Taiwan blue magpie disappearing into the dark forest, I hear Time passing in the sound of snow.

Ribbons, 19:1, Winter 2023

contemporary haibun, 19, 2024

(annual anthology showcasing a "state-of-the-art selection of haibun, tanka prose, and haiga from journals around the world")

Chen-ou Liu

Commentary (emailed to me by Tanka Prose Editor, Liz Lanigan):

A short and powerful piece of self reflection where the poet seems to be preparing themselves for an intense look-back at family history.

Love the final sentence… “I hear Time passing in the sound of snow”  -- Carole Harrison.

I think you published a little masterpiece: Chen-ou Liu’s  “It is always three o’clock in the morning”. It is the piece I am copying into my journal. I don’t feel like analysis, but it’s haunting and meaningful and I love the format which is innovative I think. -- Gerry Jabobson

Note: The run-on title alludes to the following remark:

But at three o'clock in the morning, a forgotten package has the same tragic importance as a death sentence, and the cure doesn't work-- and in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day.

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Crack-Up"

And “The dark night of the soul” was a phrase first used by the Spanish mystic St John of the Cross in 16th century.

A Room of My Own: This What-If World Haiku

to stay or to go ...

alone in this what-if world

of my attic room

Added:

missile attack

after missile attack 

in the winter dark

an old couple phone-scrolling

through a cacophony of news

Added:

the full moon between

bars of a cellar window

boom, boom, boom ...

A Room of My Own: Hongkongers Forever and Canada Day Tanka

This Brave New World, XLVI

written on Canada Day, July 1 also marking 25 years since Hong Kong was handed back from British to Chinese rule in 1997

the one-way flights

of Hongkongers forever ...

"freedom" protesters

snake-marching through downtown

on Canada Day

FYI: A series of protests and blockades in Canada against Covid-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the "Freedom Convoy" by organizers, began in early 2022. Now, residents of downtown Ottawa are bracing for the Canada Day protest by "Freedom Convoy" supporters.

And this tanka is a sequel to my haibun below:

I am a Canadian

"I will not sit down. I will not shut up. I will not comply. I want my country back. The True North strong and free ..." sticking his head out of the window, a trucker chants while driving down the street to Parliament Hill. 

Between the intersection transformed into a mosh pit and Parliament buildings plastered with "no more vax pass," "fake news," and “the Great Resist” signs, a white man holds up a giant maple flag. He calls out to a convey of trucks streaming down the street, "Freedom, Canada United."

Under the slate-grey sky, downtown Ottawa echoes loudly with chants and slogans steeped in the language of the American Revolution. The GoFundMe page for freedom convoy truckers is showered with right-wing American donations.

Golden Arches 

in the storefront window

a homeless teen

a high-rise shadow

on the cardboard shelter

omicron winter

Cattails, April 2022

Added: This Brave New World, XLVII

written on Canada Day

"freedom" protesters

wrapped in Canadian flags ...

a stray dog

scrawling its graffit-wee

on a sidewalk maple tree

FYI: The New York Times, July 1: Did the ‘Freedom Convoy’ Change the Meaning of Canada’s Flag? On Canada Day, some citizens were wary of raising the national flag, now also associated with weeks of protests against pandemic mandates.

...a sea of red-and-white Canadian flags rippling in the winter wind during this year’s protests against the federal government and pandemic mandates, known to some as the “Freedom Convoy.”

Is that flag a symbol of protest or of unity?

Added: 

"freedom convoy" protest --

wandering strays stop to piss

on a wall

FYI: Rabble.ca June 30: Ottawa prepares for freedom-convoy-style protest this Canada Day weekend: With anti-COVID mandate protesters marching into Ottawa, police, government officials, and residents fear a repeat of February’s violent occupation of the city. And Politico, Feb. 6  : Ottawa truckers' freedom convoy galvanizes far-right worldwide.

A Room of My Own: O Canada Tanka

written on Canada Day for new Canadians

breezy sunlight
floods the ceremony room
each new citizen
singing O Canada
in a different tone

Note: The following is a prequel to the tanka above:

for naturalized Canadians

a giant Maple Leaf
in the ceremony
I answer
to my English name
with a twinge of sadness

Atlas Poetica, 21, 2015

Chen-ou Liu

Poetic Musings: Intense Gaze Tanka by Chen-ou Liu

I look away
from his intense gaze …
this homeless man
speaks English
with an accent like mine

Honorable Mention, Tanka Section, 2017 British Haiku Society Awards

Chen-ou Liu

Judge's commentary: The tanka I chose for honorable mention represent a mix of themes from the traditional to the contemporary. ... “I look away” is a contemporary poem that speaks to what is happening worldwide as streets and cities are flooded with the homeless. This intimate moment between two countrymen who had quite different outcomes in their lives suggests a survivor’s guilt that many of us feel when coming across the homeless.

A Room of My Own: Departure Gate Tanka

I wish
I could take you back
Inside me ...
once more I wave mom goodbye
at the departure gate

One Man's Maple Moon: Tropical Heat Tanka by Samantha Sirimanne Hyde

English Original

back again
in the tropical heat
I grumble ...
an outsider here
an outsider there

Atlas Poetica, 19, 2014

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

再次回來
在熱帶高溫中
我發牢騷 ...
在這裡是一個外人
在那裡也是一個外人

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

再次回来
在热带高温中
我发牢骚 ...
在这里是一个外人
在那里也是一个外人


Bio Sketch

Samantha Sirimanne Hyde was born in Sri Lanka and now lives in Australia. She enjoys dabbling in short fiction, free verse, haiku, tanka and other Japanese poetry forms.

Special Feature: Chinese Moon Festival Haiku and Tanka

My Dear Friends:

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Chinese Moon Festival. falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month (October 4, 2017). It is a day for family reunion, one of the most important annual festivals for the Chinese people.

Share with you a set of selected haiku/tanka I wrote from a diasporic perspective for the Chinese Moon Festival

Moon Festival . . .

pointing my shadow

towards the homeland

Asahi Haikuist Network, Nov. 16, 2012

Moon Festival

alone, I whisper to myself

in my mother tongue

Editor's First Choice, Sketchbook, 6:5, September/October 2011

(see the editor's commentary here)

Moon Festival …

I open the window

letting out silence

Ardea, 2, 2012

Father once said,

the foreign moon seems rounder

than the one at home ...

alone in this promised land

I bite into a mooncake

Atlas Poetic Special Feature:"True Home," 2016

mid-autumn night …

the wind whispers to me

Chinese words

that offer me a home

in the shape of a moon

Tanka First Place, 2011 San Francisco International Competition, Haiku, Senryu, Tanka, and Rengay (see the judge's commentary here)

To conclude today's post, I would like to share with you a poem written by Rumi:

Put your thoughts to sleep,
do not let them cast a shadow
over the moon of your heart.
Let go of thinking.


Note: Below is a relevant excerpt from  "Featured Poet: An Evaluation and Introspective Look at the Haiku of Chen-ou Liu by Robert D. Wilson" (Simply Haiku, Autumn 2010):

... The first poem I ever memorized was [Li Po's] “Thoughts in Night Quiet,” the best known of all Chinese poems, especially among Chinese living overseas:

Seeing moonlight here at my bed,
and thinking it's frost on the ground,

I look up, gaze at the mountain moon,
then back, dreaming of my old home.

-- translated by David Hinton

When I was six, my father recited this poem to me with watery eyes. At that time, he hadn’t seen his family for two decades since he came to Taiwan in 1949, with the defeated Chinese Nationalist Army. I memorized the poem and didn’t fully reflect upon its meaning in my heart and mind. Little was understood about the suffering endured by my father and his generation due to the Chinese Civil War. It was not until the seventh year since I emigrated to Canada that I’d experienced this pang of nostalgic longing explored in Li’s poem through the moon imagery – a symbol of distance and family reunion – portrayed in simple and evocative language. Since then, every time when I thought of my parents, my family, and my hometown, I recited “Thoughts in Night Quiet,” which is not only Li’s poem but also mine...

Butterfly Dream: Immigration Line Haiku by Roberta Beary

English Original

immigration line
a red thread caught
in her teeth

Upstate Dim Sum, November 2009

Roberta Beary

 
Chinese Translation (Traditional)

移民行列
在她的牙齒之間
一條紅線

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

移民行列
在她的牙齿之间
一条红线


Bio Sketch

Roberta Beary is the haibun editor at Modern Haiku. Her bestselling collection The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press) won a Poetry Society of America finalist award. Her haibun collection Deflection (Accents Publishing) won the Eric Hoffer and Touchstone finalist awards. Follow her on twitter @shortpoemz.

Butterfly Dream: Canadian Flags Haiku by kjmunro

English Original

moving to Japan
Canadian flags tape
shut the boxes

bottle rockets,  34,  2016

kjmunro


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

移居到日本
使用加拿大國旗膠帶
封鎖箱子

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

移居到日本
使用加拿大国旗胶带
封锁箱子


Bio Sketch

Originally from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, kjmunro moved to the Yukon Territory in 1991. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada, & is an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She founded 'solstice haiku', a monthly haiku discussion group, in 2014, & has a leaflet with Leaf Press.

A Room of My Own: Promised Land Tanka

home sweet home
in the promised land:
my attic room
ten-square feet with a fifth
corner of the sky

Note: The tanka above is a sequel poem to the following tanka:

alone again
with my drunken shadow ...
singing like a skylark
in the small cage
of this promised land

NeverEnding Story, September 30, 2016 

A Room of My Own: Light of Loss Tanka

this neon night
before my emigration
the streets
become luminous
with the light of loss

A Room of My Own: Canada Day

the tenth year
since I moved to Canada ...
my thought trails
a drifting maple leaf
that catches the sunlight

on the screen
I AM superimposed
over a maple leaf ...
rainbow flowers
blooming in the night sky

Blueline and Red Thread: Scream from the Shadows, V

winter sunlight
reaches the frayed cover
of War and Peace ...
the white neighbor erects
a fence between our houses
(note: first published in Ribbons, 11:2, Spring/Summer 2015)

white neighbors
who shout no more immigrants
and I now live
in a world of one color:
snow falling on snow


Note:  This is the last set of tanka in the first themed section, titled "Scream from the Shadows." And you can read the preceding tanka here.