AMONGST TOTAL STRANGERS

Changming Yuan

Annya Sand. “We are waiting for changes”. 2020. Oil on canvas.

Annya Sand. “We are waiting for changes”. 2020. Oil on canvas.

walking around
around the corner of a back lane
I used to carry my yellowish identity
as carefully as if it were a big piece
of glass, through which I could see
others or myself, only if I chose
to do so, but on a hasty afternoon
I tripped down, and
smashed it into hundreds of
small and sharp pieces; since then
my shredded selfhood has become a big
public nuisance, a traffic hazard
as it glistens glaringly under the sun, cutting
tires or human feet, from time to time

 
 

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Yuan Changming  published monographs on translation before leaving China. Currently, Yuan edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include ten Pushcart nominations, eight chapbooks & publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17) BestNewPoemsOnline, among 1639 others worldwide.