ALISON ZHENG —
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IN LA
fever / flashback / moths everywhere / just north / of nineteen years / she lies
on the pavement / burning / a spliff / she rolled / pressed between / soft lips
so her innards / can feel like outside / just don't think / about mom / they met
in echo park / he's an immigrant too / hair like morrissey / friday, she's in love
with getting high / blunting her / ego / & self consciousness / on halloween she
dresses up / as a slutty communist / it's satire / her sense (of humor) / sucks
almost as much / as what the future / has in store / no bizarre love triangles for
asian girls / can't be / manic anyways / chinita bonitas / must save face / must
consider / a parent's debts / & her debts / to her parents / asian girls / doomed
to implode / she just wants / to be young / like white girls can / she suspires.
AN OLDER WHITE MAN VISITS ASIA
(to the tune of The Beach Boys)
Phuket, Malaysia, oh I want to meet ya
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, come on pretty mama
Karachi, Manila, baby why don't I go, Malaysia
Oh I want to take me down to Kyoko*
I'll get there fast and then I won't take it slow
That's where I want to go, way deep into Kyoko-oh!
*as in the Asian robot/housekeeper/sex slave (who stabs her oppressor) played by Sonoya Mizuno in the film Ex-Machina.
LYCHEE, 離支
coy floral. a pink red rouge. heart shaped.
thin skin. glacé smooth on tongue. dew.
Alison Zheng's (she/her) work is published in or forthcoming from Francis House, giallo lit, The Westchester Review, Rabbit: A Journal For Non-Fiction Poetry, Rigorous Mag, Sine Theta Magazine, & more. She's a poetry reader for Non.Plus Lit.
She's a Scorpio Sun/Pisces Moon. She tweets from @aliberryzheng.