Plum rains won’t quench Lantan Lake

Plum rains won’t quench Lantan Lake,

But typhoons will work it out in this year of drought.

Incessant downpours will come so hard and long

That we will stay indoors,

Windows rattling, doors howling

So much so that Lantan’s waterline rings,

Like the age of a tree shaped vertically,

Will become a memory sliced perpendicularly.

As every inlet is covered over, beaches vanish.

As the lake gets bloated.

Spillway channel fills to the rim

Tumbling down the slope to the valley below

Viaduct useless for such spillage

Into Renyitan Reservoir haphazardly

Through a highway over the dam

Then randomly into Bazhang River wham bam!

Meandering water snake skirting Chiayi

Into the Taiwan’s Strait, like a tsunami.

Yes, that August deluge is hard to imagine

In the throes of water-rationed parched Formosa

One-hundred degree days of electrical strain

In the thick and thin of life’s vicissitude,

But those bends and growth signal change

The amazing landscape of long distance vistas

Alishan Mountain to the east, its crowning creation

Rippling green water coaxed by a windy hand

Tall bamboo drooping down to the forest shore

And when the rain finally comes,

I will be witness and recipient of the might

How the moon rises across the lake sky night

How the stars shine bright tinged in watery moonlight

The subtle mystery blinded by overexposed daylight

But with her night light, her mystery grows

Pulsar of hearts in faith in sync

Storm ridden outward we no longer wait to hear

Bamboo wind’s rubbing xylophone percussion

Echoing around its glistening surface gleaming

The surprise of nature’s passionate kiss

Into substantive bliss steaming

May 20, 2021

Comments

Love on an express train with a local ticket

Love is like being on an express train With a local ticket and no reservation. One stop you sit chillin’ as soon as it starts; It takes you for a little while and a little while more. Next stop? Get up to find another seat at the door; Maybe the next stop will be the end of the line, So rock her down till the rollin’ stops, When you seem too familiar and kind. Too hungry to sit and hard-pressed to move on, It is done before you reach your destination. Perhaps you sit on the floor transfixed Or stand in the vestibule near the toilets. When you’ve opened your eyes to the world you created, It is half past late for the ride to go that way. Without faith and vision no place goes well. From car two, aisle-seat nineteen you move, To car two, seat twenty-six window move, Third stop, to car four, no seat at all; Two-thirds of your life down the line. Red signal reflection on how your trip’s been going. The train may reach your station too so...

Because dogs are the best people❤️

Some have a dog to keep them company Someone to go out and be with them Take her for walks or places to explore A place a friend would not disagree going Call her by name when she dawdles Wait for her when she is distracted If I could rent a dog to keep me company It would not be fair to say goodbye For she would be more than a child or wife Till death I would need to be in her life A child grows and a wife sometimes stops Being a part of her best friend’s life I have thought about how to walk with a cat Or a bird on my shoulder to claw me till home A turtle and slowly get used to its gait A hedgehog, fish, snail or mouse enclosed An invisible deejay radio talk show mate None of whom would be a good on a date I’ll go to the roof and drink with the moon Instead of staying alone in the dark of night Watching one by one street lights turn on Another evening with no one beginning With all the freedom a ...

To a local shrub with roots so deep

See first live rendition here Can a transplanted tree afford to lose rain To a local shrub with roots so deep? Wide and far in its reach To the sandy soil of the settler’s beach Where an ancient ship wrecked at sea Spilled its seeds on fertile soil Grew a forest in a far flung land Bearing fruit carried away Depleted and thinned towards extinction A foreign tree lost its distinction Without maintenance Till a leaf in the breeze was all that remained And the sweet taste that bloomed was soon forgotten Becoming an eyesore not worth kindling As lonely it had become as could be Yet just north across the tropic of Cancer In a temperate zone with a kind of its own So much density the forest did see With its own kind thriving naturally Through storms and droughts and falling outs Wandering offspring in wind settling in Unpicked fruit fallen to the ground For anyone who’d lost their doubt This is how culture comes about As ship-wreck...

Taiwan Providence

Search This Blog