William Marr / 非馬

Born in 1936 in Taiwan and spent his childhood in mainland China, Chinese-American poet William Marr has published 21 books of poetry (2 in English, the rest in Chinese).  His poems appear in over one hundred anthologies, ranging from literary textbooks to special collections and have been translated into more than ten languages.  In addition to writing poetry, he has also engaged in translating Western modern poetry into Chinese and has edited several anthologies of Chinese and Taiwanese contemporary poetry.   A research scientist by profession, he was a former president of the Illinois State Poetry Society and has pursued other artistic interests including painting and sculpting in recent years. 

CHICAGO SERENADE

Evening

a desolate street

A car with its windows tightly rolled up

stops for the red lights

Suddenly

in the rear-view mirror

a dark figure

looming

Sir, buy ...

The ashen driver

steps in fright on the pedal

and rushes through the red lights

like a rabbit running for its life

... buy some flowers

today’s Valentine’s Day

TELEVISION

The world

is easily

switched off

yet not quite

A spark of hatred

from the dimming screen

suddenly bursts into flames

soon spreading

over Vietnam

over the Middle East

over every feverish face

WATCHING THE OCEAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

WITH A FORMER RED GUARD

Another wave rushed in

As I was about to ask

“Did you think of poetry in those days?”

it crashed on the black rocks

and retreated with a white sigh

We looked away at the bay

through a thick fog

Suddenly the sun appeared

brilliant and solemn

as if it were a miracle

But we both knew

it had been there all the time

VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL

A block of marble

and twenty six letters of the alphabet

etch so many young names

onto history

Wandering alone

amid the mass grave

an old woman has at last found

her only child

and with her eyes tightly shut

her trembling fingers now feel

for the mortal wound

on his ice-cold forehead

SHARING AN UMBRELLA

Sharing an umbrella

I suddenly realize the difference between us

Yet bending over to kiss you

gives me such joy

as you try to meet me halfway

on tiptoe