Homescaping by Yuan Changming

Homescaping

Having nothing better to do, I kill

Time by looking at a traditional

Chinese painting on my iPad

Much enlarged, it appears like

A plain sheet of rice paper

Smeared with ink. I view it

In the presence of bonsai; I

Drop several thick strokes to the floor

Of history, leaving a few fine lines

Behind the sofa, & failing

To catch a colorless corner

Between black and white

It is a landscape newly relocated

Into my heart’s backyard. Then I sit

On my legs, meditating about

No light in the picture, no

      Shadow of anything, no perspective

As in hell. Isn’t this the art of seeing?

Yuan Changming

Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include ten Pushcart nominations, the Jodi Stutz Award in Poetry (2020) & publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17) & BestNewPoemsOnline, among others across 45 countries.