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. Urban Haiku and Senryu .
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Chen-ou Liu
Toronto, Canada
a 5k
traffic jam on 401
a V of geese honks
traffic jam…
inside the SUV
silence
fleeting clouds
sale flyers scattered
here and there
ER waiting room
three white kids stare at me
I smile back
dimly lit room
face next to face they watch
online videos
Easter morning
a pad-down at the airport
something erected
window shopping
one face looks in
while ten others look out
airwaves jammed
the blizzard brings the highway
to a halt
into Zen Garden
none is allowed to enter --
birds excepted
streetlights lighten
the sign that reads No Parking --
under it, police cars
a boy left crying
Black Friday shoppers rush
for flat screen TVs
Toronto zoo
the setting sun in the eyes
of a lionet
foreclosed home
a half-smashed jack-o'-lantern
by the curbside
his toothless smile...
dropping a two dollar coin
in his coffee cup
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Labor Day
a 100-meter lineup
at the food bank
New Year's Eve fireworks --
smoke and flames pour out
of a rooming house
two strangers stop
in the middle of a road
dogs wagging their tails
New Year cleanup
she finds used condoms
under her son's bed
the harvest moon
caught between two highrises
overflowing dumpsters
starless night
a giant Christmas tree lit up
in Town Hall Square
Sunday sermon . . .
gazing at the cross that hangs
between her breasts
recession...
my Campbell's Soup Cans
is stolen
(Note:
Campbell's Soup Cans 33 x 24 print, a work of art produced by Andy Warhol.)
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Speakers’ Corner
he stands alone gazing
at a cold moon
gazing
into his eyes, the woman
wearing niqab
autumn clouds...
reading Remembrance of Things Past
during the flight
love poetry reading
I wonder where the moon was
when I went inside
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Urban Haiku August 2011
The following are my second set of urban haiku/senryu. I hope together we can rise to the challenge posed by Haruo Shirane:
One consequence of a narrower definition of haiku is that English-language anthologies of haiku are overwhelmingly set in country or natural settings even though ninety percent of the haiku poets actually live in urban environments. To exaggerate the situation, North American haiku poets are given the alternative of either writing serious poetry on nature (defined as haiku) or of writing humorous poetry on non-nature topics (defined as senryu).
This would seem to discourage haiku poets from writing serious poetry on the immediate urban environment or broader social issues. Topics such as subways, commuter driving, movie theaters, shopping malls, etc., while falling outside of the traditional notion of nature, in fact provide some of the richest sources for modern haiku, as much recent English-language haiku has revealed, and should be considered part of nature in the broadest sense.
Haiku:
midsummer night
a homeless man counting
the flea bites
winter dusk
even my puppy
looks old
job interview
just enough snow to bend
the maple branch
end of Ghost Month
a blue mist drifting
through the basement
a wren on the ground
gasping for its last breath...
glass high-rises
faces in the metro
crimson leaves blowing
in the wind
Senryu:
Rosedale Park playground
a teenage mom and her son
fight over ice cream
prayer meeting
he swats a fly
with the Bible
muffled footsteps...
he cancels a Windows session
and starts a new one
curfew at ten
the drunk father forgets
to lock the door
drunk again
I Love You uttered
from his mouth
home from gambling
he holds his baby
high up
downtown Toronto
women in burqa carry
their Birkins
her long stare
at the condom shelves
Double-Seventh Day
(Note:
The Double-Seventh Day refers to the seventh day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It is commonly viewed as Chinese Valentine's Day)
end of Ghost Month
a hard-core Kiss fan
smiles at me
(Note:
Kiss is one of the most (in)famous American rock bands formed in New York City in 1973, whose members are known for their face paints and flamboyant stage outfits)
The SlutWalk
her tight buttock
in police uniform
(Note:
The SlutWalk protest marches began on April 3, 2011, in Toronto, and became a movement of rallies across the world. For further information, please watch The Agenda's debate, entitled "Slut Walks" and Modern Feminism., which can be accessed at
http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?934463278001
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September 2011
Haiku:
For Sale sign
morning glories bloom
on the fence
shattered suns...
a school bus collides
with a truck
autumn sunset
stray dog carcass
cut in two
lovers' lane
a baby crying
in the garbage
broken skies...
a pane of glass falls
from a condo
Senryu:
home invasion
a broken Laughing Buddha
in the backyard
housewarming party
a couple debate
the house price
zen 101
he answers a question
with a question
recession...
a long snaking lineup
for the lottery
nursing home
he sexts
his support worker
To sext is to text someone dirty messages.
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Chen-ou Liu : Poetry in the Moment
. Confessions of A Germanophile
Chen-ou Liu in the German Saijiki
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. BACK TO
Urban Haiku and Senryu
. WKD - LIST of haiku topics and Keywords
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