Four Frogs | Changming Yuan

For the past half century, I have never seen
A single frog in this city, not even in the whole country
But there are four big-mouthed frogs leaping around
Afar in a ricefield of my native village, four frogs
Squatting under the rotten bridge on the way leading
To my junior high school, four frogs playing on a big
Lotus leaf in my heart, four frogs calling constantly
From the dark pages of history invisible at midnight
Four frogs meditating under a puti tree transplanted
In a nature park, four frogs swimming into a fish net
Like bloated tadpoles, the same four frogs whose
Monotoned songs resonating aloud in different tongues
With different pitches, yes, the four frogs still there

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Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include 17 chapbooks, 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 2 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline and 2079 other literary outlets across 49  countries. A poetry judge for Canada’s 2021 National Magazine Awards, Yuan began writing and publishing fiction in 2022, with his first (hybrid) novel Mabakoola: Paradise Regained forthcoming in 2025.