Human all too human

Page 1

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

All rights reserved. This eBook can be viewed in its entirety online. It may not be sold, copied, distributed or disseminated in any other way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Further, no part of this eBook may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying,

recording

or

otherwise,

without the prior written permission of the publisher.


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


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.