All Souls Poetry

 THE CARELESS RAINS WASH AWAY THE COSMETICS

             By Tang Chengmao (Shenzhen, China)

The thunder has been dismembering the sky from yesterday.

Some classical leaves are falling down.

Some luxurious expectations are fading away.

The simple yet profound rains, in a pose of humility, Rinse off worries and anxieties.

The raindrops beating on the body give a pain that goes deep into the marrow.

The pain with depth is called happiness.

The clouds descend again,

Letting us have happiness and sorrows again.

The careless rains wash away the cosmetics.

Life becomes tragic, heroic and boundless.

The rains walking on the tiles

Are rendering the stories under the tiles into romances.

Standing under the tiles, you put life in a lower position.

What's concerned about vanity cannot be soaked by rains.

Certain things cannot avoid the rains,

Such as love and status.

Before the rains,

Standing is another fate of man.

And that handkerchief with floral prints—

So long as it slightly wipes the moist spot of your life, Your life will be much, much cleaner.

Tang Chengmao, a national first-level writer, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Poetry Society. Rotating chairman of the 4th China Poetry Newspaper Network Alliance, deputy director of the Poetry Committee of the Guangdong Writers Association. 

    IPSE DIXIT

By Marco Sonzogni (New Zealand)

My mouth was green, disse, e non una parola 

more in the face of the most diverse interpretations. 

It is not enough to retrace one's steps, to turn around  

stones as they turn their backs... The viper 

does not sleep, the mistake leaves no stone unturned 

to the wanderer. First Communion had caused 

anorexia: the host that does not find the lips,  

with his fingers the priest who does not want to touch her, 

his language, not even with the best intentions, 

and neacnhe with the tip of the runny asperges — 

            E in molti modi, attraverso i tempi, 

            hai preparato l'acqua, tua creatura, 

            ad essere segno, disse, e la cintura  

            dei pantaloni si fece serpe tra serpi —  

                        Dove un tempo c'era la chiesa crescono  

                        ora solo ortiche ma anche loro tacciono  — 

Marco Sonzogni, he is an award-winning scholar, poet, translator, educator, language and culture activist. His works on Dante include To Hell and Back (Inferno: 2017) and More Favourable Waters (Purgatorio: 2021), co-edited with Timothy Smith, and Quantum of Dante (2021). 

“THIRSTY FISH”   Mixed Media on canvas by Sue Zhu ( NZ)

“ FLOW ” Acrylic on canvas by Sue Zhu ( NZ)

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    WATER VARIATIONS ( A group of 3 poems)

By Sue Zhu (New Zealand)

1.   WATER, BUT NOT WATER

No need to award me a  crown

People without a sense of crisis

Praise me like beautiful chaos

Give me such nicknames:

Magical fog gathering clouds,

silent drops in the spring breeze,

timely snow promises a good year,

ice cube with clear jade bones

But,  really I am

just the bitter tear, shed from heaven

For the thirsty lip of Gaia*

To touch your lost soul

*Gaia is the goddess of the earth in ancient Greek mythology

2.   WATERY LOVE

May the tide only bring the love in

for lonely rock, a miracle

soft dreams afterward

May the wave only sway the boat

for the traveller, a destination

shortened to no distance

May the tears flow

for lovesickness, a tale

extend to life’s end

May it make everything possible

to be eternal, but nevertheless 

Try not to cry much

not to waste it

3.     WATER WONDER

Women are made of water

The saying in a DREAM OF RED MANSIONS

Which drop of water am I?

From the sky to the sea

I'm afraid to accept your love

in zero degrees, or in one hundred degrees

Sue Zhu, is a poet, artist, organizer of international cultural exchanges. Multi international prize winner. She is a director of the New Zealand Poetry and Art Association, honorary director of the US-China Culture and Art Center. She serves over a dozen Chinese magazines and literature societies as an advisor and editor. She has been invited to participate in many international poetry festivals.

“ CELEBRATE THE WATER”  Chinese Calligraphy by Hu Jinquan (China)

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   TO CELEBRATE THE WATER

By Jinquan.Hu (Shang Hai China)

．

Piles of snow

Melted by the sun

Lots of clear springs

Have no fixed shape

But it is useful for everything

It confluence with the tide

Eventually forming the sea

The waves were blossoming

It used to turn the pages of classical books

The waves came in waves

The chanting sounded as if one could see the heat rising

Watch overhead

The words have always been there

Shining before everyone's eyes

．

 Hu Jinquan, Poet, Calligrapher and Painter, National first-class artist, Chairman of Hong Kong International celebrity association , Vice President of the Council of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, Masters
Expert Advisor of China Cultural Information Association and  Chinese Ministry of Culture. 

 DONGHE RIVER

By He Zhongjun ( China)

If I were a floating croucher

I must have two sisters

One in the Moon Palace

One in the Donghe River

I'm still the Polygonum flower

With the rhythm of the Donghe River

Breathe. Only I know

How many joys and sorrows are buried in the spring water of a river

Fishermen, chased by schools of fish

Banana trees are in the south wind

Flapping its wings

Those who swear by water

All have flowed eastward

In Donghe, we are

One drop of water closing in another

One river flooding another

 He Zhongjun, from Sichuan, China, is the initiator of China's one original poem every day movement. He has published 16 books, including prose, reportage and poetry anthology——《Testimony of time》.

KANAS, YOU ARE MY AFFECTIONAL LOVE

By Han Xinyu (Singapore)

-

You are wind, ogling over the prairie you blow over

you are fog, moistening continuously the green valleys

I chase after you with the unchanged rhythm of the seasons

Pouring love into the desert

every piece of the rocks is unyielding

every grain of dust diffuses with warmness

flowers and leaves open with worship,

fresh dews hidden with blessing

You are hidden in the undulating mountains

incarnating as birds and flowers

as the herdsmen shout and swing their whips

the cattle, sheep, horses and camels broke into gallop

like looming over the blue sea

You are mothers, pastures and farmers

you are the calves mooing

you are dandelions over the mountains and wild

Your beauty is so glorious yet quiet

like the pilgrims, profoundly pious

nourishing lives for thousands and millions

What be used to move you?

with the torrents of the Irtysh River

open with her surging passion

raise up the tall pines of the Altai

with your purity and clarity

When you are locked by snow

you would pick up the colours of red, orange,

yellow, green, blue and purple

you sing aloud joyfully to the great nature

when the spring spreads with endless greenness

your vast kindness would sprinkle on every grain of grass seeds

Kanas, you are my affectionate lover

let me crawl at your feet, praying at your bosom

lift up your majestic soul

so that I could roam on your great thinking

against the extensive sky, the earth, every diligent life

pour down

lasting prosperity and wealth

 Han Xinyu, a writer, poet, creative artist and master of ceremonies. She is a contracted writer/researcher attached to the Ministry of National Development of Singapore for many years, and also a contracted writer for the Hua Cheng Publishing Society of Guangdong, China. She is also a popular web writer accorded a poet laureate in China’s literary cyberspace. 

    DRIFT

By Xiu Shi（Hong Kong）

No idea if it was me drifting on the curve of the river yesterday

Those floral faces of summer, sighs that mimic rain drops at dusk

Are but a chaotic mess of fine yarn—the reflection of clouds in the water

Passing underneath the cold and dismal street lights of a small town at night

Still, that wasn’t me drifting on the curve of the river today

April, when a bunch of crooked branches all bear thorny fruits

The curve of the river never ever runs dry. Tomorrow will be my turn to drift on it

Strange flags already line the streets of the town, everywhere a deluge of humanity

Drowning is the best way to end this, when all who drift reach the yonder shore

 Xiu Shi, A prolific writer, poet, and a native of Hong Kong, he is currently President of the Association of Hong Kong Poetry, as well as Editor-in-Chief of The Roundtable : a Journal of Poetry and Poetics.

“ 上善若水The highest goodness is like water”  Chinese seal carving by Ma Junhua (China)

    Dream of the Sea

By Mei Fangzi (Shanghai, China)

You want to shrink yourself    Shrink into a lake

Shrink into a pond     Shrink into a flower

A little girl

Chasing waves, running

(Translated by Xue Hong)

Mei Fangzi, He is a member of Shanghai Writers Association.  He published more than 20 books.  His poems have won national and international awards.  He is also the President of the Changshan Poetry association.  He promotes short, shallow and beautiful modern poetry.

About Water

By Xu Jian gang (Hu Bei, China)

it is said

Seventy percent of the human body is water

it is said

Seventy percent of the earth's surface is also water

Therefore, there are a lot of legends about water

For example, Da Yu controlled the flood

For example, women are like water

For example, water being like tenderness

For example, water is the source of life

The painter strokes water by his brush

The poet writes about the water in words

The musician composes the music for the water with the musical notes

The chemist writes the molecular formula for the water

And the water, never stay for whoever

Water flows into rivers, lakes and seas

Like the Atlantic Ocean, or the Pacific Ocean

Forming the Amazon, the Nile, the Mississippi, the Yangtze and Yellow rivers

Life is constantly disappearing and multiplying

Water, continues its flowing

Direction, always toward the fixed sea rushing about

 Xu Jiangang , he is working in Shaoxing Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, School of Foreign Languages, Hubei Three Gorges University, and a professor of English and American literature at Hubei Three Gorges University. Published three collections of poetry.

   Baizhangji Waterfall

By Bing Jie (Mongolia, China)

This 3,000 feet of flying white

This immeasurable majesty

This turbulent flow

This cave of water

How much pain is poured into the waves that crash against the rocks

How rich is the test paper handed to you by the years

You are so small in front of it

The wall, the cliff, the waterfall

Its loneliness is sharper than yours

It burns far more fervently than you

It wraps its wounds in its own steep whiteness

It hits the ground a million times, just to round out the earthly practice

The first river is the springboard for life's lofty goals

The second river is the depth of precipitation

The third river is the tolerance of the sea

 Bing Jie, formerly known as Wang Jinrong, is a native of Inner Mongolia and a member of the Chinese Poetry Society.

   A TINY POEM OF A TINY SEA

By Gui Qingyang (Shang Hai, China)

I say

The slimmest sea on the earth

Looming in South Australia

Like a strip of jade

Supports no more than one person

You say

The tiniest sea on the planet

Looming in your eyes

Like a little pool of clear water

Accommodates me

Perhaps only the heart of mine 

I say

I discover in your eyes

The green hills, blue waters, red leaves

Yellow flowers and grass white

You say

One's eyes are one's outer mind

So long as one's soul is super

His eyes are super as it might

Your heart can be a tiny sea

Capable of supporting only me

Your heart can be a broad sea

Holding not just emotions of mine

But all seasons of my life

 Gui Qingyang, poet, holder of PhD in translation from Lingnan University, Hong Kong; full professor of English at Zhejiang International Studies University and Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages; president of Hangzhou Translation Association; secretary General of Hong Kong International Association of Creativity；vice President of the Educational Council, Hong Kong Quality and Talent Migrants Association.

       SEASIDE SPIRIT: A HAIKU SET 

By Henry Zhao (USA)

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it”

-       Dylan Thomas

1.

wild flowers, wild flowers

all face the ocean waves 

for the same music?

2.

How to cheer the delight?

between wild flowers and ocean waves 

side by side, facing each other

3.

Sunset in white-sand beach 

a little girl teasing the waves 

steps on the sky 

4.

Sunset in the ocean 

takes away their names 

the birds and the rocks

5.

Sunday afternoon, pages of Haiku

brighten and dim, and brighten again

with the passing clouds 

 Dr. Henry Zhao studied in England and now lives and works in San Francisco, USA. He published over one hundred poems in reputable Chinese and bi-lingual poetry Journals in recent years, and a poetry collection book《Sea breeze through bamboo》.

   BEYOND THE SKY

By Liu Hejun (Zhuhai, China)

The sky, the rock, the river

It's all his path

Let the fire rust and the sword nail the time

Push a mountain or wear a stone

Reincarnation a sad earth, with decadence

Cultivate bright temptress, cultivate softness and hardness

Cultivate mother surname and male, cultivate in complete

I will not refuse

Soft alive

 Liu Hejun, Originally from Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, he now lives in Zhuhai city. President and editor-in-chief of Poetry Weekly ,Vice President of Chinese Poetry Association, Director of China Oriental Creation Center, Vice President of Shihui, Greater Bay Area, China,  Vice President and chief editor of Greater Bay Area Literature.