Poetry: Changming Yuan

Changming Yuan

Drafting the Declaration of Dependence

             No
          Men
        Are
      Created
    Equal
But
    Everyone
       Tries
         To
           Live
             As such


Baby Shower: For Kate and Emma

Bamboo nature premium baby diapers
The daughter is the art of freedom

Love to dream swaddle UP lite
Every princess is a girl, but not every queen

My Best frind pillow
To be or not to be a single flower

Grey dahlia nursing cover
If you want a woman, have something done

Dr. Brown’s bottle warmer
Women, thy name is frailty

Tammee tippee electric steam sterilizer
Only women are easy to get along with

Stork craft custom hoop glider and ottoman
One of the two running rabbits will be female

Infant optics dxr-8 video baby monitor
Flowers, why not bloom all together right now?

Ju-ju-be b.f.f.convertible diaper bag, etc., etc.
You are no basic bitch, but blahblahblah

Once Picking up a Powerful Country
This Little Poem of Mine Goes Right

Only recently did I become alert to how
I resemble uncle Sam. They – it? – don’t
Like China. I don’t like China either
(Though not for the same reasons.) They try
To reap cash in all prospering economies; I
Try to gather every penny from the corner
Wherever I can see and lay my humble hands
They hold high their banners of democracy
And human rights; I like my rights and detest
Dictatorship (though perhaps for different
Purposes.) In particular, they enjoy bullying
The weak, dodging the strong, disturbing
Waters to fish and using dirty tricks to keep
All others down; I am ready to say foul words
To do whatever possible to rise above myself
In this harshest human condition, although I
Was not born to be a villain. The only difference
Lies in the degree to which I am selfish, villainous
Hypercritic, and they--it? -- are way more so

Creation of Language

With an extra pair of eyes
Able to see ever father beyond imagination
And straight through the clouds of time

Cangjie invented all the characters
On a single Chinese day, ensued by
A downpour of millet during the day
And a storm of ghost cries at night
Just as extraordinary phenomena
Would concur with the birth of
Every Yellow Emperor

That’s actually twenty six centuries long
Before Jesus was created

Getting Ready: for Liu Yu 

Lastly, remember to burn this box with me, Son
It contains all my most precious pictures, letters
Certificates, awards, notebooks, manuscripts
Which do not sell anyway. As for my clothing
And furniture, I have donated them all shortly after
Your dad was gone. Help me to mop the floor and
The dusty versions of my pasts, sunbathe my quilts
As well as the one extra set of clothes which have
Covered my inner and outer being for the last ten
Years. Now I finally have everyone to think of
In light of light that illuminates the darkest composite of
My consciousness. The departure is due soon, and I am
Fully prepared to set off on this final trip. As you know
I really hated it when we threw all your father’s
Belongings, soft or hard, away as garbage the other day