We wrote these ourselves!!!
Original poetry by Karen Chung's Spring 2002 English Oral Training II class
Poems from: Spring 2003     Spring 2004     Spring 2005

1. Verse
Teresa Chan

The teacher asks the students to write a verse.
Of course, we have no choice.
But for those who usually write prose,
It is hard to restructure the phrases.
Finally we realize
That it's hard to get the world's praise.
And if the sun would rise
Not in the east, but in the west,
Then that would mean
I have done a great job this time.

2. Once
By Lisa Li

Once I know who I am,
Can I know who I'll become?
Once I know what I own,
Maybe I can know truly what to give.
Once I know where I stand,
Maybe, I'll know where to go.
I can't tell you the answer yet, because
I don't know who I am, what I own, and where I stand.

 

3. The fledgling
Michelle Chang

Spread the strong wings of thick feather,
He knows it's time to leave, to glide in the air.
Stand on the place of frightening height,
He jumps away, a little scared, with delight.
For his dream is going to come true:
To travel under the blue doom,
To explore the whole world free,
To witness mountain, river, tree.

Endless landscapes astonish him,
But the feeling of being alone makes them dim.
The place he was familiar with is far away,
Unexpected dangers are always on the way:
Thundershower is freezing,
Evil eagle is chasing,
Hunter's gun is gazing.

While silent night falls with twinkling star,
Loneliness faintly hurts, like a bleeding scar.
Tired of drifting in void space, nothing to hold,
He desires a stable nest, to rest.

4. Infatuation
Eleanore Lin

You knocked at the door
I let you in
We had a pleasant chat
As we'd had before
I thought you were the right one
And felt happiness
But suddenly, you disappointed me
I realized I was attracted by an idealized illusion
Not by you

5. A postcard from a distance
Bernie Kuo-cheng Lin

My Dear, what's up? I'm
Sitting in a gloomy corner
Of an Italian-style cafe, sipping my own
Solitude, thinking of you, and wondering if
You are still busy in the business world or
Staying up late at night. Is it the life you really
Desire? I flee away to this untrodden lonely land without
Saying goodbye to you, speaking a language I'm not
Familiar with and setting out with a new beginning
For myself. I miss you and worry about your health
And happiness and dreams as I'm
Exhausted on the road of
Extreme uncertainty. How I long to be
With you, in the corner of a cafe like this, having
A good rest. (You don't have to have coffee, for
I know so well, you'd get coffee-drunk.)

Yours, Bernie.

6. The Sheltering Tree
Iris Hsu

Friendship is a sheltering tree
It protects you from life's storms
When that's what you most need
Its branches spread high above
And when they engulf you
You know you are loved
It was a tiny acorn
When we first spoke
But over the years
Grew into a mighty oak
Some people have just one tree
But one is enough.

 

7. In A Moment
Pershia Huang

If once I come to this world
Just to get together with you
Just for a single instant in a billion years
With the most happiness and sorrow
Then, let everything that is to happen
Be in the special moment.
I will grovel to thank all the planets for their help
In letting me meet
And part from you
To finish the poem written by God
Then slowly grow old

 

8. Love
Joyce Yeh

Love is like a crossword puzzle,
Brainstorming 1 across
Guessing 2 down,
Pondering if I've got it right.
Tormenting, troublesome but
Heart-attracting.

 

9. I Hate You
Urania Lee

I hate you.
I hate it that your smiles are always sweet,
And that your stupid ideas are often cute.
I hate it that whenever I make a funny mistake,
You are always in the right.
I hate it that we can only meet once a week,
But you still make me drunk.
I hate it that sometimes you don’t know what to do,
And that your feelings are not quick.
I hate it that I cannot stop missing you,
And that it makes me a little blue.
I hate it that I cannot hate you,
Because I really care about you.

 

10. To Rip
Jane Huang

As I open my eyes
I find myself lying on an altar.
Breath of Death
Is the approach of hard wind.
I can feel his chill
Passed down from his fingertips.

A reaping hook
Defies my frightened look.
Too late to take
Take a deep breath
The light comes down
And the four-finger-wide wound is there.
Running across my chest
A thread of pink.

He pulls out my heart
Which wastes away due to persistent yearning.
I see him take away the black flesh,
Leaving unhurriedly.
A ribcage without a heart,
Cring in stillness.
Drowned into a sea of vacuity
Where despair is like white spray
Beating
On a branch.

 

11. The Kite
Linna Chung

So high you fly in the sky and are envied
Because you seem to have so much liberty.
But you can't decide the direction yourself.
You can be carried along by the wind only.

Good education I have and am admired
For I'm in a famous university.
But I can't decide my future by myself.
I can follow my parent's hope merely.

 

12. Partita No. 5 in G major
Mathilda Chou

They say we do not belong to this world,
Born with eerie blood.
They say we have crossed the line,
On more step, and we will die.
They say we have no rights
We are banished, even fight.
No more tears,
No more fears,
I''ll murmur beside your ears:
There's nothing wrong in love,
We do not need a birth certificate
To prove we are worthy of being loved
There's nothing wrong in exchanging souls
Not with demons, but angels.

 

13. A mother's consent
Emily Cheng

Indeed it was lovely—

The sight of a mother who has managed
To smile without a trace of grief
For her child,

Who has muttered words of hatred
And vowed to kill (later on—
Mocked the death of his grandfather
By his bleached bed-sheet-white—

He mimicked
Every gasping breath
Oh-so-vividly—

Averted for the innocence— I tried
To understand the incomprehensible.

14. Friendship
Sylvia Wu

Look up to the starry sky,
The breeze blows and the moon is shy
We draw hands and sit down side by side,
then discover that
paradise is a place nearby.
No matter how many years go by,
if you look for me,
all you have to do is look inside.
Because I will always be in your mind,
never say goodbye.

15. Headache
Holly Chang

My pen gives me pain
When I write,
The pressure of a mountain
on my head.

It's hard to breathe freely
because the air is filled with agony.
It's easy to tell a lie
because my brain cannot distinguish wrong or right.

Oh, headache, my dear.
You give me freedom when I don't know why.
However,
You also make me a fool since I can do nothing but sigh.

16. I Dream, So I Exist
Jennifer Lee

Balancing, I am standing on the scales
To see the cruel fight between Hector and Achilles;
Falling, I am rowing across the sea
To accompany Odysseus saving shipmates from Circe;
Laughing, I am sitting on the seat
To listen to Folly saying what wisdom is.

Awakening, nothing is reality.
I seem alone, but not lonely.
I live very well, so save your pity.

17. I want to fly
Jeff Li

I've always wanted to fly.
Fly farther than far, higher and higher
Where nobody can touch me in my sky.
Under such pressure I can't keep up this life.
I try to flee from it.
There are so many voices by my side.
So many things are in my small brain.
I really really want to fly…,
Fly, fly, fly, fly…….
But who can teach me how to ride the winds like
A bird free in the sky…
Because I desire to fly….



18. Fortune
Katie Wen

I once met a little girl,
Her name was Carol,
She was quite beautiful,
And had a shining smile,
She looked normal,
But actually she was ill,
And even the doctor didn't know,
What would happen to her tomorrow,
All they could is to pray for the girl,
And hope for a miracle cure.

19. Old
Angel Hsueh

When the lion is young
He's strong with sharp eyes and shrewd ears
To search for prey far and near
Feeds upon blood and has nothing to fear
All he wants is to stand on the top of the world

When the years pass by
He's weak with poor eyesight and too old to fight
Nourished by memories and weeps at night
All he asks is to find a place to take a rest

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