Saturday, July 31, 2010

Two Poems by Changming Yuan

“East vs. West”

breaking, broken
bare bricks on the Berlin Wall
collected from the ruins
to build a transparent bridge
between the past and the future

broken, breaking
earthen bricks for Badalin Ridge
baked in a dragon fire
to repair and strengthen the long wall
separating the prairies farther from the Gobi


“Dao: An Other Origin of Species”

before that big blast
there was neither time
nor space
nor matter
nor laws of physics
nor gods of course

so they say
or believe

but somewhere
out of all that void
Dao grew into one point of being
divided into two
two into four
four into myriads
until it has become
a whole universe
still growing
together with man and god
alike


Changming Yuan, a two-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Politics and Poetics (2009), grew up in rural China and published several books before moving to Canada. She teaches writing in Vancouver and has had her poetry featured in Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry, Cortland Review, Exquisite Corpse, London Magazine and 270 other literary publications worldwide.

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