Sonnet in Infinitives

To be                       a matter when there’s no question
Or not to be           a question when nothing really matters

To sing                       with a frog squatting straight
On a lotus leaf in the Honghu Lake near Jingzhou

To recollect                       all the pasts, and mix them
Together like a glass of                   cocktail

To build                                  a nest of meaning
Between two broken branches on                 Ygdrasil

To strive           for deity
Longevity                       and
Even happiness

To come on and off line every other while

To compress consciousness into a file, and upload it
Onto a nanochip. To be          daying, to         die

By Yuan Changming

Biography:

Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving China. Currently, Yuan edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include 10 Pushcart nominations, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry and BestNewPoemsOnline, among others.