Yuan Changming
[private communication]
Listen, just in case,
In case what?
In case there should be, in case tragedy
What kind?
In case volcano, in case earthquake, in case fire
Where? When?
In case market, in case earth, in case
In case Trump?
He cuts her short, switches off his iPhone, puts down his
Coffee cup, gets up from his long held position
And leaves his voice echoing at the other end
In case asynodia, she murmurs, in case
Yuan Changming is the author of the poetry collection Chansons of a Chinaman (Leaf Garden Press, 2009), and the critical monograph Politics and Poetics: A Comparative Study of John Keats and Li He (LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010). His poems have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, Literary Review of Canada, London Magazine, Paris/Atlantic, Poetry Salzburg Review, SAND, Taj Mahal Review, The Threepenny Review, Two Thirds North, and many other journals, as well as in The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2009 (Tightrope Books, 2009), edited by A. F. Moritz and Molly Peacock, and The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2012 (Tightrope Books, 2012), edited by Carmine Starnino and Molly Peacock. Born and raised in Songzi, China, Yuan holds a PhD in English from the University of Saskatchewan, and lives in Vancouver, BC, where he edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan.
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