Task Force

Moved all the way here to watch
television alone, swallowed by the grim
 
news grinning. Fuck a five year plan, first
one passes through Tiananmen the gate
 
of heavenly peace, emptied public square finery
in summer, purple cupping red azaleas
 
Happy birth upon a time, Nation!
Reveling in my love for him coquettish
 
worried, approaching paranoia
for the home country removed that June
 
The cropped photo best dilated
in our pockets black and white
 
It was a long hard road continuously reading
analysis metrics, my father knew a guy
 
worked in sales, was there and saw
them roll in like nothing else
 
Black pillars to the effective dispersal
 
I felt nothing pulling
from the airport’s narrowing gate
In the photo we still get perfectly centered
 
Longview the idiot’s
consumption guide, naturally then
 
my love for was only
 

Copyright Credit: Wendy Xu, "Task Force" from Phrasis.  Copyright © 2017 by Wendy Xu.  Reprinted by permission of the author.