JIAOYANG LI

Drinking, and drinking still

I am comfortable, said my gloves disappearing somewhere that barely gripped my hands.
Me too, I replied. We don't need each other.
Last night, a little fish of mine died, poor beautiful tank.

Today, another unnamed insect of this spring entrusted itself into my hot tea cup,
where I was still drinking, drinking still, and that was the whole point.

How normal it is to watch the violence happen
& listen to the unnamed faces

drip their granules through the funnel of time, tacitly approving
the needed procedures, every small big death. The tiny grinding,

the sound it made, patiently drowns me into its beige.
I am comfortable till even the beige I am swimming in disassembles into transparent.
With my empty hands, what will I hold, what will I sew?

Jiaoyang Li is a Chinese poet and visual artist. She is a recent graduate of NYU MFA creative writing program. Her literary work has appeared in LA Reviews of Books-China Channel, 3:AM, Datableedzine, Harana Poetry, Penguin Books–Chinese blog, Chinese News Magazine, Spittoon Magazine, Enclave Poetry, Voice and Verse poetry magazine. Her interdisciplinary poetic practices have been supported by NYFA, The Immigrants Artist Biennial, Performa Biennial, Artyard Center, Surface gallery and others. She serves as the Translations Editor at Washington Square Review, the founding editor of the interdisciplinary poetry journal 叵CLIP. Find more about her at https://www.jiaoyangli-textile.com/