Human All Too Human Selected Senryu by Chen-ou Liu
Human All Too Human by
Chen-ou Liu
Poetry in the Moment 2016
First published in Canada in 2016 by Poetry in the Moment at http://chenouliu.blogspot.ca/ Copyright Š Chen-ou Liu 2016
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Acknowledgements This book of senryu would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance and the love of senryu from all the senryu journal editors who have helped to establish the English language senryu tradition and move the genre forward. I am grateful for their contribution. And special thanks go to my tutor friend Brian Zimmer, who helped me to publish my first English language senryu.
For Edo period haikai poet Senryu Karai (1718-1790), whose collection Haifuyanagidaru launched the genre, senryu, into the public consciousness. And for Makoto Ueda, Stanford Japanese literature professor and author of Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Premodern Japanese Senryu
"Senryu differs from haiku in its rhetoric, too, since it seldom uses the common haiku technique known as internal comparison. Whereas a haiku often juxtaposes two disparate objects challenges the reader to make an imaginary connection between them, a typical senryu presents one unique situation and asks the reader to view it in the light of reason or common sense. The reader who does that will usually experience a feeling of superiority, or of incongruity, or of relief, which in turn lead to laughter." (Preface, p. vii-viii)
oh, you're a poet ... her rising tone in the last syllable
poetry reading the summer air alive with ring tones
Editor's Choice Senryu, Cattails, 3, 2014; Prune Juice, 14, November 2014
senryu workshop: dozing to the sound of my critic
brand new copies of my book in the window Goodwill store at dusk
Cattails, 3, 2014; Cattails, May, 2015
a priest alone in the confession booth year's end
the pumpkin carriage makes its first appearance: her New Year's dream
Prune Juice, 17, 2015; A Handful of Stones, December 31, 2010
first sunlit morning I recycle last year's resolution
New Year dinner my spinster aunt asks for two fortune cookie
Cattails, December 2013; Magnapoets, 9, January, 2012
reunion dinner my nephews text each other across the table
Chinese New Year eating a Happy Meal at McDonald's
The Bamboo Hut Press, 2014; Muse India, 37, May/June 2011
attic room: two mating flies and me
watching an old man talk to the willow tree ... I feel less alone
Modern Haiku, 47:1, Winter/Spring 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:11, November 2016
April First running argument with his shadow
midnight argument giving me the middle finger she blocks out two stars
Failed Haiku, 1:11, November 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:7, July 2016
trial separation I decide to sleep on her side of the bed
divorce talk each sip of tea more bitter than the last
Chrysanthemum, 20, 2016; Kokako, 24, April 2016
the click of her red high heels ... divorce court
a hole in my sock she serves me with divorce papers
Haiku Canada Review, 10:2, 2016; Modern Haiku, 46:1, Winter/Spring2015
thirteen crows on a telephone line -meeting rescheduled
pink slip my last name misspelled
Prune Juice, 16, July 2015; Failed Haiku, 1:6, June 2016
first day after layoff: my Chinese take-away without a fortune cookie
recession ... the care giver he hired doubles as a mistress
Cattails, September 2015; Prune Juice, 6, 2011
a blonde on the street corner my eyes jaywalking
between street lamps a sex worker and my shadow
Prune Juice, 20, 2016; Prune Juice, 17, 2015
a night off the hooker plays with herself in her sleep
I feel something aroused naked mannequin
Failed Haiku, 1:9, Sep. 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:8, Aug. 2016,Erotic Haiku Anthology, II
spicy chicken ‌ this impulse to ask if she's married
I'm married ... ice cubes shifting in her wine glass
Editor's Choice Senryu, Modern Haiku, 43:1, 2012; tinywords, 16:2, 2016
a fork in the road ‌ she opens the map while I read GPS
lover's quarrel ... she stoops down to draw a line in the sand
Third Place, 2014 HPNC Contest; A Hundred Gourds, 2:1, December 2012
sex with wife ... his water-stained to-do list
her hips sway our debate on sex summer heat
Failed Haiku, 1:6, June 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:5, May 2016
Valentine's Day her pit bull and I exchange stares
Valentine's Day alone the neighbor's wife runs naked through my mind
Cattails, 1, December 2013; Failed Haiku, 1:9, September 2016
Pleasantville atop each wall shards of glass
tourist attraction the beggar's cup fills with sunlight
Failed haiku, 1:10, 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:8, August 2016
breezy Sunday a nun gives her cross to a beggar
Sunday Service: the new priest with a tie and tattoos
Sketchbook, 7:3, May/June 2012; Cattails, 4, January 2015
sermon on tithing his hands squeeze the edge of the seat
love sermon the silver cross hangs between her breasts
Failed Haiku, 1:2, February 2016; Failed Haiku, 4, April 2016
Boxing Day Sunday half of the pew seats vacant
Boxing Day night the guards fish a boy out of a donation box
The Bamboo Hut, 2014; Haiku Canada Sheet, October 2012
on the way to the Zen garden dog dung
Zen workshop the roshi answers a question with a question
Touch of a Month, 2012 Haiku Canada anthology; Failed Haiku, 1:3, March 2016
Zazen -the wall mirror is covered with black clothes
bachelor party a cobra tattoo wraps around her body
Haiku Pix Review, 1, Winter 2011; Kokako, 19, September 2013
I'm bi-curious... a bat flitting over my friend's fence
pride parade my ex kissing another man or woman?
Cattails, 3, 2014; Failed Haiku, 1:7, July 2016
speed dating every face looks like my ex's
back from the washroom her blouse buttoned lower: blind date
Cattails, 2, May 2014; Failed haiku, 1:10, 2016
bullfrog chorus... I practice saying I love you
something like a slug wriggling in my mouth: first French kiss
Third Prize, 2011 Senryu Contest; Cattails, 1, December 2013
simmering heat ... the look on the face of my girlfriend's son
breakup talk: she starts every sentence with I want ...
Prune Juice, 18, March 2016; Failed Haiku, 1:5, May 2016
a paper cut from her dear john letter Friday the 13th
campaign speech -words moving up and down his Adam's apple
Failed Haiku, 1:9, September 2016; Prune Juice, 10, July 2013
politicians blah blah blah... snowflakes
noonday heat a white man staring at me me staring back
Haiku News, June 12, 2010; Kokako, 25, 2016
talk of war -my neighbor's cat returns with a bird in its mouth
arguing over costs... a man of few words in the coffin
Failed Haiku, 4, April 2016; Prune Juice, 5, Winter 2011
he lies in a gold-plated casket‌ just my size
red light -the driver of a hearse smiles at me
Selected Senryu, Haiku Pix Review, 1, 2011; Notes from the Gean, 3:3, 2011
Biographical Sketch
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chen-ou Liu was a college teacher and two-time winner of the national Best Book Review Radio Program Award. In 2002, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Ajax, a suburb of Toronto. He is currently Editor and Translator of NeverEnding Story, http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/,
and
the
author of five books, including Following the Moon to the Maple Land (First Prize, 2011 Haiku Pix Review Chapbook Contest), and A Life in Transition and Translation (Honorable Mention, 2014 Turtle Light Press Haiku Chapbook Contest). His tanka and haiku have been honored with 94 awards. Read more of his poems at Poetry in the Moment, http://chenouliu.blogspot.com/
Poetry in the Moment 2016