Another Face
Savior
He took an excerpt from the ART OF FAILURE, wrote it into
his ART OF SUCCESS, hid it again in the ART OF THE
ANTHROPOCENE, then closed it with a satisfied heart,
feeling like a savior.
Dentist (after Sarah Howe)
Maybe pulling the plug
is just a mutual blessing.
You are shy moonbeam
with a slight blush. I am
the rock in the lava that
tries to coagulate in vain.
The next time we meet
is our first time, please
sans words pull out my
cavities. My eyes will be
willfully out of focus and
I won’t cry again. I promise.
I turned into a gay man who cannot return.
Into a man who cannot, I return.
Turned, who cannot return, I am.
Gay, I turned into who cannot return.
Man, I turned, cannot return into who.
Cannot turn into who I am.
Who, a gay man, I turned.
Into who cannot return, I turned.
Return to who I am, a gay man.
Man who cannot, I turned into.
Who I am, a gay man cannot turn.
Into I turned, cannot return.
Gay man, I cannot return to who.
Cannot return, I turned into a gay man.
I, who turned, cannot return.
Columbus
The last item made in China you
purchased might have been a rainbow
Rotate your square French fag 90 degrees,
it will become the Dutch one, both straight
perfectly. The only thing more crooked is
remember much about its history. The last
time I saw it might have been in the game
Age of Discovery. At 12, for the frst time,
I saw the whole world, in the early morning,
in his room. My small boat lit up different
areas of the map along its winding edges.
Under the cover of night, Columbus climbed
to the peak of the world.
Neutered Cat
When white queers speak of racial equality, it’s hailed as progress; when I do, it’s a jest. Every color of skin glows, in the uniformity of a queer family portrait, captured in a CLICK.
Into the household, the neutered cat strides, endearing and compliant, yet seizing love besides.*
*Cf. In ‘After Eunuchs,’ Howard Chiang suggests that eunuchs sometimes orches�trated the entire court from behind the scenes, with the emperor or empress merely a puppet.