Solitude

      

By Yuan Changming

Pleasure of Solitude I never feel lonely when alone, except only when I try to get along.   1/ Here: Into the Reality   You see, here’s the leaf dyed with the full Spectrum of autumn; here’s the dewdrop Containing all the dreams made on the Darkest corner of last night; here’s the Light pole in the forest where gods land From another higher world; here’s the swirl You can dance with to release all your Stresses against the Virus. Here you are in Deed as in need embracing The most Mindful moment, when you can readily Measure your feel with each breath, but do Not think about time, which is nothing but A pure human invention. Just point every Synapse of yours to this locale. Here is now   3/ Now: The Art of Living      With my third eye I glaze into The present moment, & there I find it Full of pixels, each of which is Unfurling slowly like a koru into A whole new brave world that I  Can spend days, even months to watch As if from           A magic kaleidoscope   Solitary Pursuit       Having nothing better to do, I kill Time by looking at a traditional Chinese painting on my iPad   Much enlarged, it appears like A plain sheet of rice paper Smeared with ink. I view it   In the presence of bonsai; I Drop several thick strokes to the floor Of history, leaving a few fine lines   Behind the sofa, & failing To catch a colorless corner Between black and white   It is a landscape newly relocated Into my heart’s backyard. Then I sit On my legs, meditating about   No light in the picture, no       Shadow of anything, no perspective As in hell. Isn’t this the art of seeing?   L O N E L I N E S S           Beginning with l as in the word long or Love, followed by o as in oh or, rather Overwhelmed [with Numerous whims & Endless wishes, each Living a luxurious life in a different realm, while Interacting with Nothing but Everything as Solid as soothing as your self-sufficient Selfhood.] With this one line embedded between L (as in       Long love) & double S (as in super stories)                   How can you possibly feel loneliness? Ever in Solitude                 I am a cage, in search of a bird. — Kafka 1/ Outwardly   Golden teeth glistening  In the mouth of the city Silver clouds colliding   At the tongue tip of day             Bite off all darkness They whisper             & chew the season well.   2/ Inwardly   Wherever my mind         flies,  it  is    still                                                              Confined Tightly to this  world,  this  very  cage  of Sensory & imaginative            c  e  l  l  s In other words,            I  is  the  cage,  while        The whole universe          am  a   bird   In Solitude      From this badly broken sailboat of mind I keep pumping out water With the equally leaking bucket aboard To avoid sinking or overturning While my soul tries fiercely to catch the monsoon To bring my protobeing closer to the shore   That’s how I manage to navigate the narrows Among surging consciousnesses or      Through stormy solitude Sighting in Solitude   Golden teeth glistening  In the mouth of the city Silver clouds colliding   At the tongue tip of day             Bite off all darkness They whisper             & chew the season well. Hermitting     All feelings are sharable, somehow Except loneliness Loneliness that drives you into the very depth Knowingly Like a caterpillar retreating, hiding itself In its own cocoon Where it keeps gnawing at the wall       Until it flies out, like a butterfly      Bio:     Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Credits include 15 chapbooks, 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 2 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline and 2109 other publications across 51 countries. A poetry judge for Canada's 44th national magazine awards, Yuan began writing fiction in 2022; with his debut novel Detaching recently released at https://www.amazon.com/Detaching-Yuan-Changming/dp/B0DCNN474N, and his duology Mabakoola: Paradise Regained forthcoming in 2025.   -y at poetrypacific.blogspot.ca