Đức Trọng | Coke Rant Diaspora Sonnet | Poetry
Coke Rant Diaspora Sonnet
Listen don’t laugh I think I might well be Chinese! don’t laugh I’m going crazy
I travel half a hundred li every fortnight for my Shanghai yu choi
at Great Wall I listen when common jasmine orange fills the silent air
all seven miles of fragrance I cross the bridge for Yunnan noodles I plop the chicken foot
whole in my mouth I close my eyes I imagine crossing the Yellow
River I see ten thousand houses divide the waters from the waters I spit out
the knuckles I swallow the gelatin the essence of chicken the dog the cat the
crescent moon I open my curtain I raise my head to look under the Dunhuang sky
in the effeminate Chengdu lighting I hear sand grains whisper Buddhist meanings
the music of sycamore leaves I pluck pizzicato I know spring does not last forever
after the summer solstice the light powers begin to wane I know impending darkness I remember
some used to wear badges put up lawn signs I’M NOT CHINESE they pulverized them
regardless the Great Wall cashier tells me xiexie I might well be Chinese when they
annihilate me like one
