Poem of the Week: Kenji C. Liu

So, that you are always sir, dear sir

for the 43 Ayotzinapa normalistas and all disappeared

I.

Ask me again why I am here

with this pine, this wild oyamel,

their great succulence of reason

You, machine lyric

and State, every state,

maker of rules and so outside them

You, hard blue evenings

with mass emergencies buried

inside them, like me

Your answers endlessly insufficient-

the mayor and his wife, smiling

waving pinkies, waving dollar bills

Sweet water pouring

into the mind of a cardboard box

The verification of empty

II.

Dear sir, the angle of civilization

the angle of your civilization is too steep

I am speaking certain words and not others

Light rises along my spine

This mountain is a white bone

This republic, a one-note instrument

The president-like a president-deciding

is this one as human?

A forest of marigolds between our knees

"Mexicanos, ¿Cuando piensas arder?

¿Cuando el desaparecido salga de tu casa?"

Our altars coated with sugar

no place outside the economy of war

When the pan is all gone we will take leave

a parade of ripples with a snake's purpose

This last remittance will cover the cost

if not I will send more, tied to an eagle

The earth is filled with exceptions-

43, a number, so many numbers

I feel around my dark hold

in search of light switch and decomposition

"Ayotzinapa vive

el estado ha muerto"

Bring back the fire

In the bow of our ship, an entrance

a bullet

  

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Used with permission.

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Kenji C. Liu is a 1.5-generation immigrant from New Jersey. His writing appears or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, Asian American Literary Review, The Rumpus, Barrow Street Journal, CURA, RHINO, and the anthologies Dismantle (Thread Makes Blanket Press) and Orangelandia (Inlandia Institute). A recipient of fellowships from VONA/Voices, Djerassi Resident Artist Program, and the Community of Writers at SV, he holds an MA in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is a graphic designer. He served on the Board of Directors for Kearny Street Workshop from 2011 to 2012. www.kenjiliu.com

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