Task Force
By Wendy Xu
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.