WOMAN-RADICAL: A FEMINIST LESSON IN CHINESE CHARACTERS
妇：lady is a woman who has overthrown a mountain
好：wo-man spelt as one word simply means good
妙：young women supporting each other are always wonderful
嫁：to marry a man is for a girl to have her own family
妖：weird would be a woman if she goes broken
姣: handsome is a woman standing with her legs crossed
婢：maid is a girl who is by nature humble
婵：beautiful is she who remains single
娘：mother is perforce a lady who is good and kind
NATIVELANDING
Having nothing better to do, I kill
Time by looking at a traditional
Chinese painting on my iPad.
Much enlarged, it appears like
A plain sheet of rice paper
Smeared with ink. I view it
In the presence of bonsai; I
Drop several thick strokes to the floor
Of history, leaving a few fine lines
Behind the sofa, & failing
To catch a colorless corner
Between black and white,
It is a landscape newly relocated
Into my heart’s backyard. Then I sit
On my legs, meditating about
No light in the picture, no
Shadow of anything, no perspective
As in hell. Isn’t this the art of seeing?
***
Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include Pushcart nominations, chapbooks, and publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry & BestNewPoemsOnline, among others.
