CARNAL ORIENT

Thing with the black tentacles
Coiffed into a knob
At the base of its white
Neck, powdered like a corpse.

Adolescence

My fingers brushed across my mouth and its
Saccharine memories:
I still remember you

My Chinese name is Bad, Broken English,
so let me translate it for you.

I have written too many love poems
as someone who has never held hands and felt
the urge to not let go,

Dear Stranger on the NYC Library Steps,

the night we almost met
you tied a red scarf around our necks
and danced with me under dying stars