poem by Elaine Wang

After a text my friend sent

If you’re looking for a nature poem,

definitely don’t look here. No trees,

no forests, no metaphors tying

a feeling to a bird. They said the outside

isn’t going anywhere and they

were right – it was us that ended up

fenced in. I said I wasn’t going

to write this with line breaks but

here we are. What am I trying

to say? Anyway, it’s 2020

and my country is a graveyard.

I don’t care if this dates

me, I don’t care that I’ve

homaged my own poem.

My life is passing by on a screen

and I don’t know when I’ll see

my brother again. A flick

of the screen, so many

dead. They say, watch

this space. They say, stay

in your homes, touch each other

through screens. They say, not

voting for Biden is the same

as a vote for Trump. They say

In these difficult times, it’s time

to reopen. They say, stay informed,

do your own research. They say

it’s all an op. They say

don’t look away, not even for a second.

Look at all you’ve missed while you were gone.

Elaine Wang has been published in F(r)iction #14, Auburn Avenue, Elastic Magazine, Memorious, Sunstar, Spires, cahoodaloodaling, Zero Ducats, the Lantern Review, FreezeRay, and Front Porch (now Porter House Review). She is a Kundiman Fellow and 2014 and 2017 Pushcart Prize Nominee.

Born and raised in Texas, she now resides in Los Angeles.

www.theelainewang.com, @theelainewrites