- Changming Yuan
Directional Denotations
Directional Denotations
South: not unlike a raindrop
on a small lotus leaf
unable to find the spot
to settle itself down
in an early autumn shower
my little canoe drifts around
near the horizon
beyond the bare bay
West: like a giddy goat
wandering among the ruins
of a long-lost civilization
you keep searching
in Central Park
a way out of the tall weeds
as nature wraps New York
with mummy blue
East: within her beehive-like room
so small that a yawning stretch
would readily awaken
the whole apartment building
she draws a picture on the wall
of a tremendous tree
that keeps growing
until it shoots up
from the cemented roof
North: after the storm
all dust hung up
in the crowded air
with his human face
frozen into a dot of dust
and a rising speckle of dust
melted into his face
to avoid this cold climate
of his Antarctic dream
he relocated his naked soul
at the dawn of summer
—Changming Yuan