Issue Twenty-Six - Summer 2015

Word Wisdom: Other English Idioms

By Yuan Changming

No ass without passion
No art without startle
No belief without a lie
No business without sin
No charm without an arm
No character without an act
No coffee without a fee
No courage without rage
No culture without a cult
No entrance without a trance
No epicenter without an epic
No Europe without a rope
No freedom without a reed
No friendship without an end
No fundamentalism without mental fun
No heritage without a tag
No glove without love
No ghost without a host
No groom without a room
No infancy without fancy
No inspiration without a ration
No kid without id

Copyright Changming 2015

Yuan Changming is an eight-time Pushcart nominee and author of five chapbooks (including Kingship [2015] and the world's most widely-published poetry creator who speaks Chinese but writes in English. Growing up in a remote village, Yuan began to learn the English alphabet at 19, and published several monographs on translation before moving to Canada as an international student. With a PhD in English, Yuan currently co-edits Poetry Pacific and runs PP Press with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver. Since mid-2005, Changming has had poetry appearing in 1039 literary publications across 34 countries, including Best Canadian Poetry (2009,12,14), BestNewPoemsOnline, Cincinnati Review and Threepenny Review.

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