3 poems by Anna Yin

Found Poems 
 --thanks to Leonard Cohen

*
so long, Marianne
in February sunset 
Cohen dances to the end

* 
take this waltz 
everyone knows
first we take Manhattan 

*
the slow thaw 
Lake Ontario echoes 
a thousand kisses deep

*
closing time
tower of song
happens to the heart

*
birds on the wire
waiting for the miracle 
coming back to you

*
here it is
the presence of you
alive in the air



 
In Duplicate
           "Beware of things in duplicate"
                   - Dana Gioia

These days I read for signs:
on a table, a set of blue china,
at the window, a spider’s web…
Over my head, a floating cloud,
shape hard to name,
then a sudden gust– hot and salty–
from the east or west?

I sleepwalk in a maze.
Nothing is lost. 
The book I hold in red and gold
conceals blue:
Do not expect that you have left
threads in others’ dreams.
The maze disguises its green exit.

Everything I hold– so small–  
still hurts when not returned;
I wish to duplicate it:
keys, hands, hearts, and love…
For if a mistake is made,
then I, at least,
have another
to hold.


first appeared in Literary Review of Canada march,2017



 
Landlord
The house prices here have been hiked up.
Some blame the rich from China—
So many flooding in, and tossing cash for mansions:
cheap, mouths wide open.

In China, they “buy” an estate but don’t own it;
in the contract— “70 years right to use”.
Hard to argue— “buy” or “bestow” sealed in a black box,
who really knows? And the landlord: The Party or The People?
If you drill down, there is always an endless hole—
unpleasant, unwanted.

Now many possess mansions here—
huge land, vast space in this foreign country,
becoming a grand landlord.

This early winter, hail drums;
with each storm, it mocks:
everywhere we go we are still on the Planet;
we rent this earth, and eventually 
pay for life. 


note:  lines in italics are from “Minute” by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming

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Anna Yin was Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and has authored five collections of poetry and one collection of translations:  Mirrors and Windows (Guernica Editions) in 2021. Anna won the 2005 Ted Plantos Memorial Award, two MARTYs, two scholarships from USA and three grants from Ontario Arts Council etc. Her poems/translations have appeared at Queen’s Quarterly, ARC Poetry, New York Times, China Daily, CBC Radio, Literary Review of Canada etc. She has designed and hosted various Poetry Alive workshops with multimedia since 2011 and they have been well received in classes in person and online. Her website: https://annapoetry.com

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