Allen Qing Yuan, born in Canada and aged 17, currently attends high school in Vancouver and, encouraged by his poet father Changming Yuan, has had poems published or forthcoming in nearly 40 literary publications across 11 countries, which include Cannon's Mouth, Contemporary American Voices, Cordite Poetry Review, Istanbul Literary Review, MOBIUS, Ottawa Arts Review, Paris/Atlantic, PoetsWest, Taj Mahal Review and Toronto Quarterly.
Banana Blues *
It is his spirit’s secrets
That makes him bluer than blue
A branch longer than the root
A banana unlike any other fruit
But my growth has been
Bulged, blunted
Like a scale unable to measure
The weight of my quasi white soul
Is melancholy, ever depressed
Flapping against evening winds
Confined behind black bars
I’m blue, bluer than bold blue
A composer without compositions
A conductor without a baton
To even guide himself
The song beats away
As I’m singing my blues
* American/Canadian-Born-Chinese (ABCs or CBCs) are often called
‘bananas’ because they are yellow-skinned, but white-minded.
