Born with a deformed heart muscle
You are as timid, introvert and cowardly
As a little quiet chick, but all your life
You have been trying to play tough, forcing
Yourself to be tough-minded, tough-bodied
Like an iron fighter rooster in the legend
Until now your worsening ischemia
Drives you into your old premature selfhood
With cardio neurosis, trembling, all
Thanks to a tenant, a sociopath, a rattlesnake
More evil than Satan, whose greatest joy
Is to destroy you as a petty landlord
Of a rental property full of foreign words
Changming Yuan, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013), grew up in rural China and currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press. Recently interviewed by [PANK] and World Poetry [CFRO100.5FM], Yuan’s poetry has appeared in Best Canadian Poetry (2009;12), BestNewPoemsOnline, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 819 other publications across 28 countries.
Photo credit: Paolo Margari / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Turtle Way 