Two Poems
by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
Joan Chen
Letterman tries to make her take off her jacket
but she refuses him
he asks if she has another engagement
but she says she is here purely for him
the audience oohs and trills like frilly eels
but she looks more to me like tender student
than supple-bodied sphinx
Letterman asks if there are cars in China
and if she came by plane to America
he asks is she a US citizen
what the test is like now and
I don’t know she sofa shrugs
you should know he armchair reprimands
I got it she says like she is sticking out her tongue
he says that doesn’t mean it’s chewing gum
that we live by the constitution
Every Single Day of Our Lives
And the audience whistles and claps and sets off fireworks
She smiles a secret snug in herself
points her hand at him like a teacher
Tell Me Who
Tell Me-
I better not find out you’re driving a cab he shouts over her
Who
Tell Me Who
Tell Me Who
Who Who is
He doesn’t answer
2.
a girl on a tram told me
I looked like Josie Packard
I forgot her name and never looked her up
a girl in my office told me she was watching Twin Peaks
and wanted to text to say that I was Joan Chen
but she was afraid it might be racist
I found a young Joan Chen on the internet
sad long look
blurred mascara
still firm mouth
red raw apple
her haircut wasn’t a Russian novel
it was an Emily Dickinson poem
speaking not about the long leaves of hair
but the bare lines of neck and shoulders
3.
Joan Chen wrote on her food blog that
whilst drifting through the aisles of American Apparel
waiting for her daughter to try on clothes
a shop girl approached her and asked
are you the girl from Twin Peaks?
she was surprised and embarrassed
to find that they might connect
this slob
with Joan Chen
Taylor Swift
1.
she says that she hasn’t been alone
for the past ten years
the opposite of alone is
I try really hard to be a nice person but if you break my he-------art I’ll probably
3.
the opposite of alone is
5.
the opposite of alone is
so I’ll find myself smiling in my sleep
because I think there are people in my room taking pictures of me
on her face a half
moon muscle memory of
the self in the glass eye of the camera white blink
she is seeing herself all over again
6.
The opposite of alone is how does she know she is smiling in her sleep if she is asleepJessica Zhan Mei Yu is a writer of essays, poetry, fiction and scholarly work. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne. Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in The Monthly, Sydney Morning Herald, Best Australian Poems, Overland, The White Review and more.