last week of summer as Taichung wind chills

last week of summer as Taichung wind chills
mix smoldering smoke of spent stalk patties 
with power plant zinc-tongued bitter residue
as furrows are built for potato rain to seep
so for lunar new year spuds can creep

yesterday department story ramen noodling 
movie evening with cheese, wine, and wife 
me like Bill Murray, her Sheepshead Bay saint
with E-Z Con Thursday's child bowling for dollars 
Mandarin student pulling hamstrings for dinner

Wednesday swimming and blogging on
evening movie rocked to sleep
Tuesday's return from Tainan Congress
closing ceremony awards and applause  
lovely Rita's climatic effortless cause

Tainan Monday, Green Tunnel and museum 
Matzu temple touring to Eternal Golden Castle
an evening with beer, fried fish and friends
Sunday a swim after Plum Rain recitation
historical library humbling sensation

Saturday railroad elevated southbound
check-in at Tayih Landis gala dinner
meeting dignitaries and poets exchanging books 
forgetting Friday's child who never showed
one long story growing old

Thursday tutorial lost in Plum Rain translation
middle school  students exposing Child Labour 
readers theater troupe in final rehearsal
after Wednesday peddling bike up the Han
rice paddies blossomed already farmed 

up from a Kaohsiung one writer workshop
to ride northwesterly winds down the river
blocked by a mother's son my thoughts forlorn
with strength in my faith, Brooklyn born, i go
onto jolly rancher teachers where all ants swarm 

Oct. 31, 2016

a mother's son returns the favor

a mother's son returns the favor
that slap that made him breathe
together they cry unabated 
back to their lives awaited
from birth through separation 

perhaps they will walk upright
abandon their struggles
crawl out of the night
assure each other
that all is alright

give and take a bequest 
with no fight or resistance
only childlike insistence
only faith and fate
when a son returns the favor

Oct. 12, 2016

book launches a frenzy of support

book launches a frenzy of support 
success in vanity, press assured
in a small circle, in a Mandarin city
heavy English words in little Taiwan
feel like a trip to 7-11; letting the motor run

those dogs heard barking in the passive voice
are silenced when the food is released  
but resume yelping as a stranger approaches
a stranger whose presence raises fear
soon becomes a pack that no one goes near

fill not a bucket with filthy fairy yarns
for a river thus polluted never comes clean
no reparation but scars from hate
grant me the serenity of letting it go
allow me the peace of watching the river flow

a passing typhoon shredding paper trees
leaves a mess of twigs to burn away 
gathered round the sacrificial bonfire 
unsupported wordsmiths like torn out stumps
more concerned with info dumps


words blown off e-books like sand from mandalas
less than a whisper, more like a holler
no Amazon mermaid can satisfy in dollars
can fulfill the dreams floating in my head
of clouds gathering steam from the river bed

Oct.1, 2016