Some time ago – when my light first shone –
I provided several planets with their first dawn –
Now – years after my birth –
My light has finally reached the Earth –
So tonight – look up to where the birds fly –
And look for the new star in the sky
06.03.95
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Copyright by Minh Tan on listed dated of completion
and published in Perspectives, ISBN 0-9686250-0-2.
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Notes to this poem…
Is there a literature genre called “trash talk poetry”? If not, this poem could start it cause it was just a little civilized and subdued trash talking, of me referring to myself as a star, using the astronomical meaning in the poem but really meaning the societal meaning of someone famous.
Translated, I was referring to the fact that when I was born, my Parents were thrilled, perhaps like the way someone might enjoy the beauty of the dawn. I was their first child so the reference of “first dawn”. However, now that I was grown up and jumping out into society, I was wanting to be a star to inspire others, so hence the comment to look up to the sky, in keeping the astronomical metaphor, to see the new star in the sky.
The only problem was that I was not a star in any way. Being a good student wasn’t my idea of a star. However, the intention and quest remains the same to this day and for the rest of my life till I succeed.
The O-series of poems are one stanza poems composed before I got onto writing haiku and tanka, and short poetry while in action or traveling by select means like plane or ferry. These poems are 3-9 lines long with at least one rhyming couplet, and not of the short forms just mentioned. For the sake of elegance, I just called the collection One.
Minh Tan's Old Poetry 
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