Poems from 2025

3 poems written in 2025. All poems by Mingji Liu.

Nikki

2025 · Mingji Liu

you are the quartz in the sand, its glow along the strand;

you are the hours on the beach, the warmth of your reach,

you are the views from a plane, of the bell towers of Spain;

you are the flow of her streets, its contours and its beats,

you are the green in my tea – green as ferns, and as trees;

you are the spices in my bowl, a heart that is whole.

North Queensland

2025 · Mingji Liu

i. CASSSAURIUS

from out the bush

coarse and black,

She lifts her crown to collect
sunlight leaking through leaves

rainforest monarch,

ruby laced and blue

She stamps a three-knifed foot
on the berry laden floor

undaunted and deliberate

striding back into her forest.

ii. PSEUDOCARANX

Silver that I hunger
Silver that I circle
Vast silver eyes
Soundless listless sands
Under the silver hull
Between the silver lights
Along these currents I silver
The half-moon I silver
Corals – a ghost town
You – interloper
In your silver tank
In my empty
Silver night

iii. RHINELLA MARINA

Glory be to me!
Tonight,
I gave a kiss to thee.

These tricks I do for free!
Despite,
The warts and all I be.

I’m here for good, you see?
All right.
`Tis time to race me.

Strelitzia

2025 · Mingji Liu

Rain, fitful and wind-cast,
spoils spring
for days.
A lean bird-head shivers
greenly
by your window.

Then sleepily, cautiously,

an inch of blue

emerges.

She reveals a gold-tint

tuft.

Then another.

Till one day, you wake
to her daring

plumage.

A wingspan, paradisical,

ready

to embrace you.