Yuan, Changming

Canada, (contemporary)

20 Imperial Imperatives

  1. Come on
  2. Let there be right
  3. Don’t be afraid
  4. This above all: to thine own self be true
  5. Speak the devil
  6. Watch your thoughts, your words, your actions, your habits and your character goods
  7. Pee eight glasses of water every day to keep yourself fit
  8. Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by impotence
  9. Don’t fart in front of her Majesty
  10. Those who believe in telekinetics, praise my hand
  11. Be the ex-change you wish to see in the world
  12. Beware of hog
  13. Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of bold
  14. Say you love me
  15. Do not dance with a pig – you’ll both get excited, but the pig will not enjoy it
  16. Sit
  17. Forget yourself and write only for the public
  18. Do not fuck with locals
  19. Let a hundred flowers gloom

© Changming Yuan. Mad Swirl, a creative outlet. submitted 06/08/11.

About the Poet:

Changming Yuan [pen name of Yuan Wumin] (contemporary), is a Canadian poet, editor and publisher. Yuan grew up in rural China, moved to Canada as an international student and received a PhD in English from the University of Saskatchewan.

An 8-time Pushcart nominee, Yuan has had poetry appearing in more than 800 literary journals/anthologies across 29 countries. Yuan’s publications include: Chansons of a Chinaman (2009), Politics and Poetics: A Comparative Study of John Keats and Li He (2009), Landscaping (2013), Plein Air, an Origami Poems Project (2013).

Together with his teenage poet son, Allen Qing Yuan, Yuan is the Founding Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the ezine Poetry Pacific at Poetry Pacific Press (PP Press). Yuan also works independently tutoring and teaching English in Vancouver. [DES-07/17]

Additional information:

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