Remember Earth
When I look into the sky,
I like to imagine the stars and planets
as human beings who were able to transform
themselves into these super spheres, circling in
an eternal meditative realm.
The earth is but a sad and failed entity
that had launched itself too eagerly, too fast
its consciousness has crashed into a million
trillion little consciousness, moving everywhere,
some squelling, some barking, some growling,
some ointing, roaring, and alas, the little egos
have even found it apt to turn on in each other,
devouring each other
These fragmented consciousness can be revived
for eternity, and now each has to find its own way
launch not your ego before you have mastered
your art - remember earth
another version
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poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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My Aquarium
i used to admire my brother who had
aquariums of fishes outside the garage
and in our rooms, fishes that swam
through every phase of our teenage years
now another of his fruitful hobbies steals our sights,
breath and hearts
he keeps a garden of orchids, many he
fervently crossed breed himself with a secret
wish to name a few at least after his sweet heart,
special friends and luminaries in town
with also the hope some would make their
way into every florist's vocabulary
the blade leafy shrubs have started to
make a cut into the finer part of our life
showering us dainty fair ladies in their best wear
i am always at a loss of their names
those protrusions with an array of flowers
of subtle shapes, racy exploding colours and scents
carrying apt names such as slippers, tigers, spiders
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poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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Vile
I am so down and out I wish
some earthshaking news to
shake up my day for instance
George Bush and Saddam
Hussein in bed scratching
each other's back as they whiled away
their time talking about how much
they had succeeded in destroying
themselves and their own nations
and how with some makeups, they
can play twins in a hollywood
movie titled 'How to take Your Country for a Ride'
or like Queen Elizabeth II
taking down her crown in place
of a shroud, saying she would
abdicate to become a Catholic nun
in Ireland because she has a vision
telling her to do so
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Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River
this path mom walked
to market each morn
she must have loved the flowers by the river too
inspired by
Alone, Looking for Blossoms Along the River
The sorrow of riverside blossoms inexplicable,
And nowhere to complain - I've gone half crazy.
I look up our southern neighbor. But my friend in wine
Gone ten days drinking. I find only an empty bed.
A thick frenzy of blossoms shrouding the riverside,
I stroll, listing dangerously, in full fear of spring.
Poems, wine - even this profusely driven, I endure.
Arrangements for this old, white-haired man can wait.
A deep river, two or three houses in bamboo quiet,
And such goings on: red blossoms glaring with white!
Among spring's vociferous glories, I too have my place:
With a lovely wine, bidding life's affairs bon voyage.
Looking east to Shao, its smoke filled with blossoms,
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poem by John Tiong Chunghoo
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Between the Creator and Me
I look through my body
at the world, the stars, moons,
stars beyond stars
I know there are stars, moons
stars beyond stars too
circling all within my finite self
this temporary sphere I am crowned with
the aura that shines from these
trillion of cells
all the moving atoms,
electrons, protons,
the universe inside and out
I look at them
from my infinite self
god the puppeteer
skillfully playing
the beginning, the end
I came out of the two walls
the human brain is kept in
to take a peep at myself, the universe
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Outside Myself
I look through my body
at the world, the stars, moons,
stars beyond stars
I know there are stars, moons
stars beyond stars too
circling all within my finite self
this temporary sphere I am crowned with
the aura that shines from these
trillion of cells
all the moving atoms,
electrons, protons,
the universe inside and out
I look at them
from my infinite self
god the puppeteer
skillfully playing
the beginning, the end
I came out of the two walls
the human brain is kept in
to take a peep at myself, the universe
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Little Birds
last posture
pink little sparrow
so still in its few feathers
(a dead bird i saw that moved me nearly to tears)
inspired by
Little Birds
Little Birds are dining
Warily and well,
Hid in mossy cell:
Hid, I say, by waiters
Gorgeous in their gaiters -
I've a Tale to tell.
Little Birds are feeding
Justices with jam,
Rich in frizzled ham:
Rich, I say, in oysters
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That Mysterious Waves Of Pain
christmas day
i saw the boy
the white boy
skiny, thiny thing
who could only be
two scores of age
smiling so
innocently in phuket
the elders surrounding him
cajoling
i saw a little boy
black plump little thing
barely two, i guess
almost nude, running
carefree, near the sea
close to the waves
and into the waves
looking, discovering
danger, no,
a thousand miles away
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The Christmas Day before Tsunami In Phuket
Christmas day
I saw the boy
the white boy
skinny, thin thing
who could only be
two scores of age
smiling so innocently
in Phuket’s Patong Beach
the elders surrounding him, cajoling
I saw a little boy
black plump little thing
barely two, I guess,
almost nude, running
carefree, near the sea
close to the waves
and into the waves
looking, discovering
danger, no,
a thousand miles away
I saw a granddad
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A new Poet
a new poet - first the
glow of the moon, then
overcast sky, then
thunder and lightning
the short interval between
shadows and lights
the delicate situations
that one has to fit in
on the page, white, yellow or blue
to make light, light
and the thunder, thunder,
and all the frightening winds
and storms that come in between
then the close of the rain
the loudness of the raindrops
taken over by drizzle and
little swirls of fresh breeze
that fuel the acme of enjoyment
for the senses and the mind
the final lines of a poem so well
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