The time had come
A final bow was all he had left
It was finally over
A burden off his shoulders

Alone on the stage
He looked to the audience
Cheering and clapping
In appreciation?

Was it worth his while
Doing something new?
Memorable moments there were,
Moments he would never forget

He arched his back
More cheering, more clapping,
A tear in his eye,
And the curtain fell…

I was drunk, and might have been seeing double,
but when the car crashed, she flew right out of trouble.
“Wow! Did you see how that teetotaller flied?!”
Some random funny fucker cried.
Oh, the ironies from the bacardi punch cauldron bubble.

(i)
You’ve lost that
twinkle in your eye
the sincere gait

a boy finding his
way through your
re-constructed lines
jumpin’ past the stumblin’ rocks.
You speak Yankee now,
do you?

The music no longer plays
when you left me at Hilton.

(ii)
Swim buddy,
if I was
Christian
would you baptise me
in the name of brotherhood?

Play your gospel music
to my counterpoint
put on your shirt
as I smooth out your tie

loving you
the sinner I am.

(iii)
On the upriding escalator
stands you alone
basking in faint spotlight
glimmering melancholy
an almost perfect equation
one lost step

dissolved in pink stripes
boarding trains
different directions
same moment.

It draws near.

I wash my face
Hard as ever
But the paint
Comes off no more

I don’t wanna be
Anything like I’ve been
Lately.

But I have been
What I don’t want to be
For far too long.

And now
I have to be
What I don’t want to be
Forever…

Little Boy
wished
against smashed plates
and broken vases
that his nimble fingers
mend the cracks;
his fragile heart
hanging on a rod

to grow roses
out of lives.

Little Boy
refuses to fly away
from Never Never Land.

I don’t think you understand
how much
I wanted to cook the
beef stew.

This is silly -

fighting
a losing battle
with your chef.
Go toward the
loving suffocation
for all I care.

Snuggle, snuggle.

(i)
Little old man
walks the curved pavement
backwards
trying to trace back time
with each step
hoping lao shi would appear.
Take him to the toy museum,
will you?

(ii)
That picture on the desk -
it’s quite sweet, yes?
Oh, they’re flying?
Do you think
it could ever
be us?

(iii)
You there, yes, you -
the one with the sensitive soul
blocking out my
existence in his life
so that others may fill it.
You saint,
helping the Homeless,
the Lonely.
I hate your kind heart.

My outer me
Reflecting yet counterpoising
The harsh exoskeleton we all display
Hard, thin, brittle

Beneath this me
Awaiting, hidden
Softer yet no less different

Delve deeper
More shells
Smaller, yet no less softer

Tearful journey to the core
Upon reaching
One finds … … nothing

Who am I?

I opened my eyes,
To a trickle from below
Red, blood red
Now, a flow

I looked around,
Man, women, child
Stealing glances at me
Without even concern mild.

Skilled, I plugged it
With a tilt and a pinch
And a shirt soaked
From white to red.

Yet, not even a
Second look it earned.
From this mighty feat
I have learned;

All of the world lives
Individual lives.
For individual comfort
Each one strives.

Weekdays;
I used to wake up at 5
Be at work by 7
Have lunch by 12
And leave work by 5
I used to be home by 7

Weekends;
I used to wake up at 12
Have lunch by 2
Go for a swim by 5
Have dinner by 9
Watch TV till 12

And then one fine day
I left.
Ended my earthly sojourn.
I left behind
A family of three
And money in insurance.

Yet, my family
My family of three
Got none out of my
Insurance.
For how could I have died,
When I never did live?