Snow Beginning to Fall Outside
While he tries to draw a mountain
With an ink-dripping brush
On a wide sheet of rice paper
It begins to snow outside
Paints the whole city with winter white
Dotting his work like a leopard, roaming
Looming along the borderline
Between the city and the season
His strokes getting blurry among falling flakes
All the trees become frozen, retreating to the horizon
Except a black bird still beating its wings
Against the mountain range in front of his eyes
Against the snowfall outside of his home
Changming Yuan, 6-time Pushcart nominee and author of Chansons of a Chinaman (2009) and Landscaping (2013), grew up in rural China, holds a PhD in English, and currently tutors in Vancouver, where he co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan and operates PP Press. Most recently interviewed by PANK, Changming has poetry appearing in Best Canadian Poetry (2009;12), BestNewPoemsOnline, Exquisite Corpse, London Magazine, Threepenny Review and 749 others across 28 countries.
Copyright © 2012 by Changming Yuan