Mindfulness
Yuan Changming co-edits Poetry Paicifica with Allen Yuan (poetrypacific.blogspot.ca). Credits include Pushcart nominations and publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), Best New Poems Online, among others. In 2021, Yuan served on the jury for Canada's 44th National Magazine Awards (poetry category).
By Yuan Changming
Of all animals, I used to wonder
Wondering if fishes really have
As they say, the shortest memory of all:
Only seven seconds
Or, their pasts, if any, are supposedly
No longer than the present moment
That is, they have virtually no pasts, nor do they
Ever care about their futures. They just keep
Swimming, blowing bubbles, chasing
Their own shadows into ever deeper ends
As if in a wide flow of consciousness
Often would I feel envious of fishes that are
So mindful about their each passing moment
Now I seem to feel like one