Poems from Poet’s Jubilee Anthology, forthcoming The University of Macao, 2006.
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More poems and contributor notes in Chinese feature
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Agnes Vong
lover of fairy tales
evening light
a valley of shadows
secrets between my footsteps and
the tangled bushes
a twig from the first branch
for the ash girl
a red apple
for the snowy white girl
a magic door
for the nosy girl
at the end of the valley
my grandmother’s grave
cousins
I’m a rat
running
I sniff
weary legs shuffle along in darkness
nose glued to the grassy floor
smelling food and foe
high above
my swift cousin ambles over the sky
wings almost motionless as she meanders
with the river
eyes down
our reflections meet in the water
an echo of the forest
quivering in cold moonlight
just one step
and I can reach for
the pool of shimmering stars
funeral march
no mourners
a small hut in the grass
by the reeds in the river
the eldest son
caught an eel
but it had to be thrown back
the second son
looked after the chicken farm
culled all of them
now just the youngest son
plays with a chick
—the one that got away
vegetables, rice — all that they ate
even their shit is poison
