Chen-ou Liu Poems

his word gentile
stuck in my throat
snow on snow
...

A Haibun


The fireman from Nuevo Laredo looks at the body, muttering, “This is the 6ooth body I’ve pulled out of the Rio Grande.” There is noisy silence between the two of us as I turn and see a long line of trucks crossing into Texas. We continue to make our way downriver and, upon turning a bend, I see a boy and his dog caught in branches at the river’s edge.
...

grief knocks
the wind out of me
drifting snowflakes
...

one bird song
after another...
alone
in the waters of spring
...

standing alone
under our Chinese pine
I remember you...
its trunk forks out
...

snowy morning,
December 21...
reciting Basho
...

'Madiba's gone'...
a young Mandela raised
his right fist
...