after Qurbani (1980)
O, lonely heart
without love you will suffer
It’s a dark forest beneath
our open polyester shirts
In the meager air between us
chest hair weaves a bridge
O, may your heavy gold chains
hang low just for me
We’re two cocky
simple-celled organisms
Your chin wags lucky
You’re a gangster for me
You make my jiggly show
glow incandescent
Behind this extra sideburn
a burning pink rose
My tears in your ascot
now salty jewels, you slip away
After we dance, tell me
where you’ll bury your thieving fists
It will be great
Yes, yes life will be great
Someone like you
should come into my life
Before they lock you up
let’s rumble and roll around
Love, jump on my
magnificent haystack
Our Superman hearts
disco-ing out of control
I’ll wiggle my flower
so your eyebrow will rise
You could be smashing
my Mercedes
with your mustache
You could be proposing
to my biceps in a canary
rubber dinghy
It will be great
Yes, yes life will be great
After we dance, caress me
with your nightstick
Flip me, toss me
Smother me with bell-bottoms
I can’t quit the way you
defenestrate my affection
Love, keep direct eye contact
with my smirky turtleneck
I’m not an angel
just a half-smoked cigarette
from Monsters I Have BeenFind more by Kenji C. Liu at the library
Copyright © 2019 Kenji C. Liu
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Alice James Books.