xiao mei, xiao mei, they call youmini-America, little beautystranger woman-girlyour body has more definitionthan when you left at twelve& nobody knows what to do with itthe men talk to you about choicesas in the ones they made for their wivesthe women talk to you about childrenbut not the ones they buried in shamethey insist on being helpfulas in they don’t want you to beone of those, as in wan le, as ingame over, which you used to confusewith its homophone, as infrolicked, as in finished joythey gave you a name & once againyou had no say in the matter, as inabandon, as in you leave hometo find it had left you
Leftover
Yuxi Lin
adj. or n. (1891) : that has or have been left over : not used up or disposed of :surviving from an earlier time
Feature Date
- March 10, 2019
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Copyright © 2018 by Yuxi Lin
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Autumn 2018
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Louisiana State University
Co-Editor & Poetry Editor
Jessica Faust
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