Author Archives: Jenny

  Translated from the Chinese by Fiona Sze-Lorrain   At high summer Lake Huai runs dry a few days, the bed revealed Where are the fish? I stretch my hand into the grotto, touch a tail: sleek, flat, fidgety . … Read More

  It was hard to keep up— 6th Street, Beverly to University. Wet snow and wind stung my face, sidewalk too narrow, no shoulder— cars would’ve hit me if I’d reached out my arm.   The train chuffs its cargo … Read More

              —Smith and Bybee Wetlands, Portland Oregon   November   and the brightest thing’s my neon blue slicker     I wish I knew if the pulsing in the soggy leaves came from Pacific chorus frogs or bullfrogs either way … Read More

  Tell me again the story of the farmer who finds a golden axe in the river and must enter tribunal with a silver dragon.   Or the man whose obsession with a wind nymph causes a trickster to turn … Read More

  They said she hurt them and brought them the book & then they fell into fits. When Mary’s hands are clincht together they point, cry out—Look! Mercy Lewis’ hands are clinch. When Mary stands with her head bowed—put up … Read More

                  ties upon ties upon ties upon go somewhere                                               little wild … Read More

                    When lifted,   it surrenders                   like a whirling dervish                         … Read More

  What are we supposed to do tonight— fancy,       wondering.     I wanted to see the kind of     crazy      we celebrate.   For the time we’re here     locked up like pretty          sketches,     something pleasant you remember       mixed up inside.   It’s … Read More

  It is time to disclose the truth. How they descended on my desk and typed a letter that made very little sense, a logic that matched their size and elusiveness. How I left the study to purchase a cheese … Read More

  almost green / not quite purple / pissed-off grey   looks ripe / remember   this early a.m. / the billiard games with a few Millenials   / voiced to them “chrono-   logical age is bullshit” / but … Read More

  oh no! / not this questioning   acquaintance again / why unwed / why no children /   in front of hers you accuse   her of being a terrorist / her bafflement / yes you walk   away … Read More

  Today, the sky was completely ordinary. Just a few white clouds dispersed at random. Then,  in between, nothing but the dull blue of late afternoon. And I wanted to tell you, “Look, it’s a miracle. See that squirrel. It’s … Read More