Two Poems by Yuan Changming

idiomatic english: do not burn the midnight oil

You see, Elvis has left the building
And you may be glad to see the back of
A hot potato
Jumping on the bandwagon
But once in a blue moon
You will hear it on the grapevine
Rather than straight from the horse’s mouth
Which is a far cry
From the best thing since sliced bread
Something you can see eye to eye
While cutting the mustard
By drawing all the best of both worlds
To make a long story short

Now if you feel a bit under the weather
Why not just let the cat out of the bag
Or you might just sit on the fence
Give it the benefit of doubt
And then hit the sack
Even in this heat of the moment

Photography © Eleanor Leonne Bennett

iHooyeau

If, if only Darwin were right
It did take as long as one million years
Before apes became what we are, gradually
And passively, with the help of our environment
However, with our own intelligence
And technology, we are going
To evolve into iHooyeaus suddenly and
Actively, in a matter of just one generation
Or two, a new species that will consume
Lunar energy instead of sun-based foods
Each living in a unique virtual
Reality, where multiplication is achieved
Sexlessly via logic rather than through
Love, where each individual lifetime is
Expended within a tiny chip

So, are you happy to be the last humans
Or the earliest iHooyeaus?

Yuan Changming, 8-time Pushcart nominee and author of 4 chapbooks (including Mindscaping [2014]), grew up in a remote village, began to learn English at 19, and published several monographs before leaving China. Currently, Yuan tutors and co-edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver. His poetry appears in Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Cincinnati Review, Threepenny Review and 959 others across 31 countries.

Eleanor Leonne Bennett is an internationally award winning photographer and visual artist. She is the CIWEM Young Environmental Photographer of The Year 2013. She has also won first places with National Geographic,The World Photography Organisation, Nature’s Best Photography and The National Trust to name only a few. Her photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, The British Journal of Psychiatry, Life Force Magazine, British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and as the front cover of books and magazines extensively throughout the world.