Too much thinking

While discussing death
With Marley
At 5 a.m.
Leaning forward
On a 3-legged chair
To keep from tipping
I noticed the dust
Collecting in the corners of the room
And wondered
If we kept talking too long
Would we bury ourselves
I kicked him out
Finally
And began to lay down
Strips of aluminium foil
So the light
Would cast my reflection
And I would know
That I was still alive


Andrew R Crow (Canada)

The Song

In a Muslim handmade noodle place
near the Guangzhou railway terminus
the proprietor must like this song
because he plays it in an endless loop.
I can't tell if it's English or another language
but one line seems to be ‘Everybody loves me now.’
The man pushes the dough into a thick cylinder,
pulls it into a tube, twirls it, then
whacks it on the tabletop with a tremendous smack.
At one phrase of the song he lets out a bellow.
A song, a whack, a bellow can sum up a life.
I could sit here forever, listening.


Fraser Sutherland (Canada)

Fissure

Between two high notes
The song leaves a crack
Wide enough
To let me in
Like a fish jumping back
Into night water

The fish and I leave no
Trace, and the world
Remains undisturbed as we swim
Deeper and deeper in blue silence

Upon my return, I find the music
Still going on, while the fish has
Disappeared into the unknown


Yuan Changming (Canada)