Oct 30 - A Surprise Takeaway from Michelle's Dinner Party

The party favour
Is a little Jack Russell
Paul is soon smitten

Oct 29 - At the Galey Farms Horror Spectacular

We like a good scare
But not as much as the teens
Who swarm CarnEvil

Oct 28 - Happy Birthday, Rachelle and Gary

A double birthday
Two travellers at our table
Too much cake and wine

Oct. 27 - I'm Sorry, But I Meet a Lot of People

My student is hurt
That I can't recall her name
Nothing personal

Oct 26 - Good News from Alberta

Bud is on his feet
No longer condemned to suck
Mint-flavoured sponges

Oct 25 - Pat on a Break From Yemen

We drink wine and sweet
Lillet, laughing and crying
Over loves and loss

Oct 24 - Paul Flies to Medicine Hat

Alone in the house
I hunch over a cold steak
And wait for his call

Oct 23 - Visitors from Afar

Becca and Gary
Have come to do up the coast
The sun shines on them

Oct 22 - Priorities

These letters I wrote
When we were crazy in love
Evoke sweet, sad days

Oct 21 - The Applicants

They want to be liked
Job interviews bring that out
In people who try

Oct 20 - The Boy at the Back

He has a long beard
Of a kind that adds madness
To the sweetest face

Oct 19 - Honduras Dreams

Google Translator
saved my life. Was there really
life before the Web?

Oct 18 - On My Morning Walk

The geese are south-bound
They call out as they pass by
Heralds of winter

Oct 17 - A New Offer On The Table

Word by word I change
My resume to Spanish
Es muy dificil

Oct 16 - Assessment Day

All these ping pong balls
And mere minutes to move them
In a team-like way

Oct 15 - Owen Watches Aaron

At two, he's amazed
That saws can make sad music
If in the right hands

Oct 14 - The First Forgetting

J says she struggles
To remember some things now
I watch her thoughts pause

Oct 13 - Regretting that I Stretched the Truth

I'm studying my
Spanish, wishing I knew it
as well as I said

Oct 12 - Too Soon

The rains have come
But I still hang out the clothes
Refusing to cede

Oct 11 - A Panda Bear from the Beijing Zoo

Rachelle says pandas
Seem to be her animal
Now she has one more

Oct 10 - Four Hours of Sorting Pictures from the Trip

Twelve hundred photos
All the sights from two wild weeks
Spill across my screen

Oct 9 - Returning

One last shopping trip
Then a long, long flight back home
Grateful for free wine

Oct 8 - Cycling Century Park

This odd bicycle
Carries me past orange flowers
And overweight brides

Oct 7 - Shanghai At Night

Skyscrapers sparkle
Neon jewels line the river
A night garden's bloom

Oct 6 - The Haunting Truth about the Three Gorges Project

The river rose up
And a million residents
Lost what was most dear

Oct 5 - An Excursion to the Shennong River

With barely a wince
Five sinewy men pull hard
To row us upstream

Oct 4 - Ghost City

Steps and steps and steps
Lead us to the Gates of Hell
Where the king awaits

Oct 3 - Three Gorges Cruise

Our cruise ship sets sail
Three days on the vast Yangtze
Feet up, we relax

Oct 2 - The Men Who Carry the Sedan Chairs at Longji

Their faces straining
They carry people upward
Nine hundred steep stairs

Oct 1 - A River Cruise

Limestone mountains rise
High above the River Li
Stooped women pick snails

Sept 30 - An Evening's Walk in Guilin

Alone, I wander
Past purple lights on the lake
A night market's buzz

Sept 29 - Blown Away by the Terracotta Warriors

A man digs a well
Seven thousand warriors
Emerge to amaze

Sept 28 - Trouble at the Airport

A booze-filled bag, a
lost passport -  Beijing Airport
won't soon forget us

Sept 27 - The Great Wall

Thirteen towers up
The tourist scene falls away
Lost in Beijing's smog

Sept 26 - Where Emperors Once Walked

Forbidden City
Your beauty reserved for kings
Now shared with the world

Sept 25 - Jet-lagged in Beijing

Cheese and smoked oysters
Will have to suffice tonight
Weary travellers feast