Pre-Positioning

yuan changming


Better not to end a sentence with a prep like ‘of’

I don’t remember when this rule I learned of

 

But since then I have become keenly aware of

The need to pay close attention to the grammar of

 

Every sentence I write in English, a language of

Choice over birth, which I did not begin until at age of

 

Nineteen to learn among heavily accented versions of

Mandarin practised on a Shanghai campus, a city of

 

Romantic or rhapsodic adventures. Yes, by definition of

Preposition, it is a function word expressing a relationship of

 

A name with another in most cases, & as the most common of

All preps, of denotes origin or cause with the shape of

 

O like a vagina to f— into, the two letters as the theme of

This poem, with many other political concerns or lack thereof 

 

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Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include Pushcart nominations, chapbooks, & publications in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry & BestNewPoemsOnline, among others.