Long JohnsBad ocean. Pretty breakfast. I am away in a town where all the men are required to wear long johns. Pretty bulges. Bad attitudes. It could be worse. It could be dire. I would just like to eat my fancy bacon in peace. To be alone with my levity & delusion that by writing of imaginary travels, the food & foreign men, I can go beyond myself. Oh stiff unbudging life. How many fresh starts now have turned out false starts? How many dead-ends have I walked into, am walking in, samsara-stuck & stupid, god, good people, can you tell me how to stop, how to give up, forgive? Chen Chen is a University Fellow in the MFA program at Syracuse University. His poems have appeared/are forthcoming in PANK, Anti-, NightBlock, Potluck Magazine, Ghost Proposal, among other journals. He has received fellowships from Kundiman, Tent: Creative Writing, and the Saltonstall Foundation. He serves as Poetry Editor of Salt Hill. |