Five Poems by Jackie Chou

 

At the End of the Day

 

Our day ends when it is time to part

My lids fall with the curtain of night

For darkened dreams, I depart

 

To the starry sky my black horse darts

Deep in slumber, I'm my own knight

Our day ends when it is time to part

 

To chase joy, a forgotten art

I must with my own demons fight

For darkened dreams, I depart

 

The surreal realm has made me smart

To defeat the darkness with my light

Our day ends when it is time to part

 

Like everything is free, I load my cart

Pushing its weight with all my might

For darkened dreams, I depart

 

In separate worlds, we're apart

My lone pursuit brings no plight

Our day ends when it is time to part

For darkened dreams, I depart.

 

Red Leaves

 

Red leaves fall like sliced-up hearts

Bloodying the rain-wet sidewalk

Against the cold my crossed-arm guards

 

To the base sparrows I give my regards

At my lone figure they appear to gawk

Red leaves fall like sliced-up hearts

 

Life deals me many unfortunate cards

Of my failures the wind seems to talk

Against the cold my crossed-arm guards

 

Pursuing stardom in obscure arts

At my ideas the mainstreamers balk

Red leaves fall like sliced-up hearts

 

Hanging around a group of bards

My mere ink on paper I try to hawk

Against the cold my crossed-arm guards

 

For these rough streets I lack the smarts

So back to the care home I walk

Red leaves fall like sliced-up hearts

Against the cold my crossed-arm guards

On the Bakery Patio

The pigeons stop by only for the crumbs

Pecking at a fallen cake by my feet

The ground speckled with blackened gums

No one is out at this time but the bums

This lounge chair my permanent seat

The pigeons stop by only for the crumbs

Dreaming day and night with no qualms

I've become a fixture on the street

The ground speckled with blackened gums

To this solitude I've become numb

There's nobody I'm here to meet

The pigeons stop by only for the crumbs

Some look at me as if I am dumb

Walking everywhere in the cold and heat

The ground speckled with blackened gums

The feasting birds seem anything but glum

Though they cannot taste the sweet

The pigeons stop by only for the crumbs

The ground speckled with blackened gums

 

The Enigma

 

I come and go,

but most of the time

you'd find me leaving,

out the door,

a flash of a silhouette 

disappearing into the blue,

like the sparrow 

fluttering away from the fountain,

realizing I'm not going 

to share my sandwich,

chirping into the distance,

the way I call your name from afar,

gazing at the same brilliant sun.

 

The Fairy

You appear in my memory
on a blue-cheese moon,
a blurry silhouette in the clouds,
whispering your whereabouts in the wind.

You turn your back to me,
ebony-haired,
your slim figure vanishing
into the grey fog of yesteryear.

You breathe ethereal air,
eat fruits from otherworldly soil,
and like a fairy
your wings flap eternally

above my outstretched hands.

Jackie Chou is a poet of Japanese short-form poetry and free verses from Southern California. Her collection of poems Finding My Heart in Love and Loss can be purchased on Amazon.  Besides writing, she loves to watch Jeopardy and talent competitions on TV.