Variations on a poem

Hi friends,

TinyLetter is no more, so you’re now receiving this newsletter from Substack. The demise of the platform reminded me that I’ve let too many months (years?) go by without an update.

I’m now at my MFA program at NYU, starting my second semester next week. More than anything, it is a time where I am listening: to my brilliant professors, to new favorite poems, to fellow writers who surprise me every week. To wind on winter trees, to ungreased subway tracks, to the space between lines, to my voice.

Two of my poems were published on The Margins from Asian American Writers’ Workshop! The first, “Michigan”, was inspired by a hike one pandemic summer, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize last year.

The other came out just this Tuesday—“Discards Triptych” is a poem divided as three variations on a theme. I’m happy to have a poem about joy in the world, where so many of my poems, and so much of the world, tend to circle about in despair.

The poem is part of a series all titled “Discards”, some of which can be found on The Rumpus, about what is lost and what is shed in the process of immigration and assimilation.

I’ve always felt my life delineated by my trips back home to China. Here are some snippets from my return last month:

I’m letting all that I saw and held there take root in me, open hearted to what’s next. I’ll leave you now with a few poems:

• “The State of —” by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha in “Who Shall Remember How? Palestinian Poets Respond”
  I am searching for the sea she cries / Has anyone seen it? It used to live in my window.

• “Danse Russe” by William Carlos Williams
  Who shall say I am not / the happy genius of my household?

• “Sometimes There Is A Day” by Naomi Shihab Nye
  Then, maybe, no more fighting / about land. I want that day to feel

• “Bikin’ I’m Bikin’” by Shira Erlichman
  Is death / the last forgiveness? Breath, the last witness?

With heart,
Alice

P.S. While you’re here, maybe you’d also like to play my crosswords or read my essay about romance novel covers?