Changming Yuan was reared in a poor Chinese peasant family.
Before he came to Canada in 1989 as an international student, 
Yuan had published three books and many journal articles on translation and the English language.
With a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, Yuan is currently working in Vancouver 
as a college English tutor. His poetry appears in dozens of literary magazines 
and anthologies across North America, UK and India.


 

War Zone

 my younger son has learned
 to snatch a sunny sunday afternoon
 and claim a corner of our wide tv screen
 as his territory for dragon fight
 before his big brother invades
 our cozy living room and changes it
 into a bloody battlefield for warcraft

 full of forced fragments
 my life gives me only edited sights
 of another super hero slaughtering
 an entire army of monstrous militants
 somewhere on the other side of the globe
 while my wife trying to read a romance
 beside the killing kettle in the kitchen
 finds herself totally lost
 in the reality supposedly virtual


Life Ride

 not really because i have an invalid ticket
       but probably because i got on the wrong train

     i keep elbowing my way from one car to another
           only to find no seat unoccupied or reserved for me

 huddling in cold together with my own soul and shadow
       i have but the corridor as my claim in this cage-like compartment

     there is surely more room and warmth in a sleeping car
           yet without the conductor's key i cannot pass the gate

 among my fellow passengers are relatives and strangers alike
       they will keep me company whether they like my face or not

     unawares many have gotten off the train at dawn or dusk
           but even more pack onto the cars each time we run idle

 i enjoy catching the scenes surging outside the window
       my only luggage left when i have to get off at my station