Home Words

I prefer the way I feel

in the old country

someone tweeted. Timeline of nations

to nations. I mean

something must be wrong if I need

to be seen. Asks the gynecologist, open

please. I only want

to reveal myself once. Etymology is too slow

for change. At least Chang Le started

a floodplain

with my ancestors’ gutturals ricocheting off the Hudson River

like fish. Yeye tosses in his bucket, tells me

in that dialect he speaks

for respect. I have nothing here

but thoughts

Li Bai writes. Everything talks.

Everyone.