There is a 7-year cycle of economic crash
The sun never set within the British territories
The yingzheng of Qin burned all the bamboo books
And buried all the Confucianists alive; the other
Partner-quantum is intricately entangled somewhere
On the other side of the world; the aliens are
Travelling in and out of the hollowed moon
The American super-soldier fucked every
Female in the village; the mers is plaguing
The old soul right now; Greece’s debt became
A huge crisis for all Europe; as many as
Eighty million Chinese males can never hope
To find their own sexual partners; the ants
Invade your house in June and October every
Year; certain words grouped together can
Win a fame forever, while it’s never explained
Why the main character came to town…
Yuan Changming, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of five chapbooks, grew up in rural China, started to learn English at 19, and published monographs on translation before moving to Canada. Currently co-editing Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver, Changming has poetry appearing in 1069 literary publications across 36 countries, including Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Cincinnati Review and Threepenny Review.
Excellent poem to wake up to in the morning, especially a morning in May in America when a polar vortex passes through and a book lies open to a quote about oatmeal. Best wishes to Yuan Changming.