Yuan Changming
As I flopped about, not unlike a foolish fish
Thrown into a coffin, I noticed my western neighbor
Begin to move his belongings out of his dwelling
With masks and costumes of foreign gods as well
As native ghosts, all left in a nightmarish mess
Then, behind my dilapidated garage, I heard
The old skeletal couple giggling secretly, saying
How delicious the grey matter they had just
Sucked from the brains of newborns, and how
Too salty some celebrities’ semen and menstruation
Wondering why everyone seemed to be moving now
I found my eastern neighbor jump wildly, busy setting fire
On their new monster house, apparently to burn or
Destroy all the aliens, robots, hygenas, wolves of war
They had been keeping as pets, which often ran astray
Deeply lost in a contaminated neighborhood, I wonder
How I can disinfect my protobeing before resettling it
***
Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before leaving China. Currently, Yuan edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include 10 Pushcart nominations, Best of the Best Canadian Poetry and BestNewPoemsOnline, among others.