Tanka
page after
page
the evidence of a waste
of money...
the PM smiles at reporters
filling the air with words
a fire broke out...
neighbor argues with neighbor
over who will pay
in the end, they call
each other by first names
cliché-only
settlement blocks carving up
my mind...
it's time to have peace talks
with the ancients
autumn moonlight
caresses my face...
is it wrong
to remain faceless
in the crowd?
as morning dawns
and evening fades, Your name...
I want to shout
over what He whispers
into my heart and mind
U.S. wages a fight
against Asian carp invasion—
headline news
from Canadian Maclean's:
U of T Is "Too Asian"
(Note:
Maclean's is Canada's only national weekly current
affairs magazine. U of T stands for the University of Toronto)
flames
enveloped Lâm Văn Tức
Saigon, 1963...
a Tunisian set himself
on fire, an Egyptian...
(Note: The tanka is
written for the courageous peoples who are fighting against
autocratic governments.
Lâm Văn Tức (1897 – 11 June 1963), a Vietnamese Mahayana
Buddhist monk, set himself on fire performing a ritual suicide
in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by the US-backed
corrupt South Vietnamese government. The photo of his
self-immolation was circulated widely and brought close
attention to the larger structural and ideological causes of the
Vietnam War.
Tunisian unrest began in December, 2010 after Mohamed Bouazizi,
a 26-year-old unemployed university graduate who sold fruit and
vegetables on the street without a permit, set himself on fire
in a suicide attempt after police confiscated his grocery cart.
Copycat self-immolations have followed in at least four other
North African states.
