Rants and Rambles

    I'm back, Van! I'm bundling up myself in a comfy armchair by the window, which glimmers from a thousand sun streaks shining through a cascade of trees uphill. The gentle rustles of the wind echo soundly with the soothing bubbling of Mom's pot of vegetable stew in the kitchen. Vancouver is trying to keep itself cool during these dog days, slumbering under the maples or splashing by Lost Lagoon, so everything seems to be in a trance. Even the sparrow perching outside doesn't bother to eat his fat worm. The stillness around keeps my words flowing until the sparrow thrusts away terrified: an airplane is passing above. While I feel sorry for the little bird, it probably wasn't hit as hard as I was hit by my travel flashbacks from the sound of the plane. Given the raging COVID-19 pandemic, flying is not something on top of all of our agendas, but you'll be glad that it is not. Needless to say, traveling experiences very much depend on many personal factors, yet f...

 *Shortlisted poem for the 2020 Page by Page contest, organized by the Vancouver Public Library There is a cedar outside the window Towering over maples and oak trees . I wonder if it feels any sorrow Because the blue sky is all it can see.   No, the cedar is not lonely at all With fragrant leaves twirled like fingers . In summer, the warblers enthrall The musky branches with songs that linger.   At dawn, the succulent stems gleam When the sun engulfs them in golden rays. Night falls, the cedars withers its leaves and dreams Of the melodies the sea breezes serenades.   But have you ever noticed the trunk Stained with dark flowing resins – its tears From the spots that have seen cedars struck By roaring chainsaws all over the years?