Inner Mining

      

By Yuan Changming

Inner Mining   Deep beneath the horizons Of your mind lies a virgin mine   Of infinities, where all The unknown is ready to be   Explored, and all the raw Consciousness (of every   Other being) is connected In a network of time   (Space, matter or energy?) While science may process each ore   Into a spiritual coin, only art can offer You the right tool to dig it, refine it   Inside vs Outside   Even if as you choose You are already deep inside The circle, inside The trend, inside The office, inside The fashion, inside Her body, inside Their book, inside Its record, inside Our archive, inside Your heart, or even inside The very core, your inner being Is still lingering in the outside   The way I always prefer To see, to watch, to think     Geophysical Circulation   From the heart of     The Northern Gyroscope Pumps out the blue blood of The Pacific With its spirit of peace, circulating Within the arteries of every human continent      The 52-Hz Whale   Humming, speaking, calling     Or yelling at this frequency   You can be heard only By your own inner ears     By Definition True Tranquility   Is the absence, or emptying of All self-consciousness, whether   You are lost deep amidst Noises, or even silences     Epiphany   After countless trials, your innerself Finally manages to climb up right Into the high room But only to find   The door is actually open To begin with      Self-Way   Every road leads to Rome, they say (Or Beijing), but there is only one   To your true selfhood; in other words Connecting all the trails and paths   You have ever travelled along, you’ll Find they make up the one long way   Guiding you to your own inner being      Ritual Walk   Once a week, I take a long Walk in the heart of the Pacific Spirit Forest Park, where I Enjoy dating, flirting with Nature in the depth of my heart   No, to be more exact, my heart is The forest per se, where I love to Open up my innerself once in a while Like those firs or cypresses, standing   Tall and straight, ready to let in A few sunbeams on a bright day      Bio: Yuan Changming grew up in an isolated village, started to learn the English alphabet in Shanghai at age nineteen and published monographs on translation before leaving China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently lives in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Writing credits include 16 chapbooks, 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 3 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline and 2,207 other publications across 52 countries. A formal poetry juror for Canada's National Magazine Awards, Yuan began writing and publishing fiction in 2022. His debut hybrid DETACHING, 'silver romance' THE TUNER, short story collection FLASHBACKS, cnf collection RETURN TO ROOTS and novel trilogy TOWARDS are all available on Amazon.