MIRAGE

By Shutao Liao

The poet found himself retreating to his own lodge as an observer after long tedious travel, writing down everything across his mind, to reveal a splendor of romantic emotions as well as a profound sense of beauty throughout the words between the lines.

An intimate journey to the kingdom of self salvatio

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shutao Liao
• Release date: Dec 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781087988658

Book preview

Shutao Liao

MIRAGE

Copyright © 2022 by Shutao Liao

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

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Contents

MIRAGE

LIST OF POEMS AND ARTICLES

PREFACE

VOYAGE ONE

VOYAGE TWO

VOYAGE THREE

MIRAGE

Chapter Separator

Shutao Liao

LIST OF POEMS AND ARTICLES

Chapter Separator

VOYAGE ONE

THE TRAVEL OF A SPECK OF DUST

MIRAGE

THE EULOGY OF LIFE

MEDITATION IN TARRYTOWN

FOUR SEASONS

CROSSING THE BOUNDARY OF THE SOUL

VOYAGE TWO

THE KISS OF A POPPY FLOWER

TRAVELING

WHEN LIVES DIE IN THE NICKS OF THE CLOCK

CLIMBING MOUNTAIN PEAK OF THE SOUL

I PUT MYSELF IN JOURNEY OF THIS WORLD TO EXILE

DOWNFALL

NOTES IN 2022

NAMELESS HEIGHTS

VOYAGE THREE

I WANT TO TELL THEE IN FOUR SEASONS

EMOTIONAL MOMENTS

IF

AT DAWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NIGHT

A WINTER’S LODGE

AN UNBENDING BELIEVER

I HAVE HEARD

RAIN

I SAW

SONG OF A WANDERER

WHEN THE TENDERNESS WRAPPED ME

TRUTH IS BEAUTY

ON THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE 21ST CENTURY POETRY

POSTSCRIPT

APPENDIX

STATEMENT ON THE KISS OF A POPPY FLOWER - Antoon Van den Braembussche

PREFACE

Chapter Separator

A poem can be poetry by expressing expectations and emotions. Feelings from the heart which you must express, this is the ambition of a poet.

However, only true feelings are not enough for being a good poet. The characteristics of poetry require the creator of a poem to realize pure expression, sublimation of emotions, and the transcendence of spirit.

The most taboo words in poems are to be flashy. Such verses inevitably lack the inherent depth and beauty, and it is impossible to perfect deep expressions. Even if the writing is exquisite, the result can only be a pile of gorgeous words, empty and tasteless.

Poetry without imagination is the poverty and depravity of poetry. The full intervention of imagination from beginning to end makes a poem into poetry. Poetic sentences without imagination will become a boring game of words, the dry arrangement of sentences, the lack of poetic soul within the form of poetry, and the empty philosophical description. It is better to directly write a philosophy thesis than to write such a poem.

In the process of writing, I emphasize on the great importance to the further expansion and extended description of imagination, which can outspread the connotation of the text and make it display an extraordinary quality. Among them, the image description of thoughts is a powerful supplement to the visual image description. It brings fantasy formation, deep artistic conception and broad vision to the poems.

Poetry cannot merely be a tool for expressing personal emotions, but must reach the height of universal humanity. In this sense, poetry is both individual and common, both special and universal human experience.

Good poems, see cleverness in clumsiness, see beauty in the midst of simplicity, authenticity and inner beauty.

I would like to thank the Flemish cultural philosopher, the emeritus professor and poet at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, , author of the influential book Thinking Art, Mr. Antoon Van den Braembussche, for his valuable statement on my poem: THE KISS OF A POPPY FLOWER, I attached his poetry review to the Appendix of this book.

Human life is a process. Every day we partially die. To save life in the constant death through writing, it becomes the consciousness of my life.

Such is for the preface.

October 22, 2022, New York

VOYAGE ONE

Chapter Separator

THE TRAVEL OF A SPECK OF DUST

One

I am a speck of dust in the universe,

After hundreds of billions of years of confused travel,

Once wandering in the dark void, also in the endless black hole,

Witnessed the beginning of chaos, the Original One from The Nothingness, the bud of life,

The transformation of hot and cold, the melting of glaciers, the changes of time, the birth and death of species,

The seas slowly devoured the land,

The tenacious persistence of forests and vegetation,

waves of death

Instantly erased the lives of the earth.

I had thought existence was a voyage full of joy,

Chasing the eternal justice in the ideal,

Never recollected that on this ill-fated road, it would be a difficult journey,

I had thought the world was a benevolent abode,

Who would have predicted that this would be a strange and fraudulent venue?

Destiny, not even I, a tiny speck of dust would let go!

Made me suffer so and so,

I have not made many extravagant demands,

just wanted to be my true self,

Even such a request seemed too much,

So I was doomed not to escape the tricks of fate.

I was wandering alone in this vast universe,

Used to seeing

The roars of lightnings and thunders, the melting of ice and snow mountains and rivers, the excitement of volcanic eruptions,