Chingmang Yuan
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO
Born in a year of the rooster
You were fated to crow
But not high in the sky
Like any other bird flying fast by
Rather, you perch low
Low on a broken fence
(Always reserved for ghosts and spirits)
Crowing as aloud as you can
To welcome every sun
Looming above the dawn
* * *
SONG TO THE TONE DEAF
for Allen and George Yuan
There is often such a time when you, a no-songster
Would want to sing aloud to yourself, a song
That everyone else might also love to sing; the song
Whose lines you never remember, nor can you
Control your pitch as it rises and falls randomly
On its own, nor will you keep the tune on the
Right track; the song whose rhythm you do not
Care to follow, while lost in your little privacy
The song that has an evasive melody
Deeply encoded in your heart
Although you sound like a cry from heaven
Your throat is filled up with euphonies.
Changming Yuan, an 8-time Pushcart nominee, grew up in a remote village, began to learn English at 19,
and published several monographs before leaving China. With a PhD in English, Yuan currently tutors and
co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen
Qing Yuan in Vancouver. Since mid-2005, Yuan's poetry
has appeared in 879 literary publications across 30 countries, which include Asia Literary Review,
Barrow Street, Best Canadian Poetry (2009;12;14), BestNewPoemsOnline and Threepenny Review.
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