Chinatown

THIS POEM WAS WRITTEN BY FATIMA V. LIM.

     Suddenly, I desire
These narrow streets.
The clanging din
Of a different tongue.
Lighting needles
Puncturing my ribs.
And the drink
Brewed from the root
Twisted into a man.

     If only Father lived.
He would read my future
Unfurling in the tea leaves,
Show me the inn
Where they serve
The finest jumping shrimps,
And lead the way to the old pagoda
Where a long-lost uncle lives.
     As they trade
Old tales, Father slips
And band of heavy jade
Upon my wrist.
     A stone dragon leaps.
I am borne, a quarter-moon-
Eyed child, home, upon
My father's shimmering
Back.