A Cosmology

Abstract

A Cosmology Jane Wong (bio) Keywords Jane Wong, poetry I told the earth to settle back down, to lay deep in its mudarmchair, to soften the static from its flaring mouth. Can we slow down, tenderthose we miss? The sky— ledge or loom—dangles in my grandfather's mouth, jawbone in the burial ground. In my dream last night, he was a golden beet inJanuary snow. I grate ginger over an ant hole, certain it would gild themtoo. I repeat: I will not be afraid that the world is about power. My ghosts fill me with feathers,my lungs: a mane unplucked. The near promise of erasure settles me in this world, buzzingfridge fluorescence. The rotting head of broccoli in my grandmother's bowl blooms with power.What we keep, we eat, what we [End Page 843] love, we break off. In another world, a bee falls headfirst intoa pitcher of rice wine. I set an altar, the altar billows with ferns good in any soup.Ants sing along the stems. I scrub the sugar off my face and offer this too:my gold-leaf self, sheet by sheet. [End Page 844] Jane Wong jane wong's poems appear in Best American Poetry 2015, American Poetry Review, Third Coast, jubilat, and others. A Kundiman Fellow, she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from the Fulbright Program, Fine Arts Work Center, Hedgebrook, and Bread Loaf. She is the author of Overpour and is an assistant professor of creative writing at Western Washington University. Copyright © 2018 The Massachusetts Review, Inc.