Face ID Doesn’t Recognize Me When I Cry

Face ID Doesn’t Recognize Me When I Cry

Something, Not a Love Poem

               At midnight I eat your expired for him vitamins.

Email with its body as the subject line.

               The cut on my thumb from a knife. Or was it paper?

My mom sends me floss in the mail.

               The laugh we stained the streets with; the stumbled over sidewalk piss. 

The 2 year old January to do list in my coat pocket: order furniture.

               My back bedroom window asks my neighbor for intimacy.

The man I sit next to on the bus tells me he always wanted to marry an Asian woman. 

               Face ID doesn’t recognize me when I cry. 

I paid $17.60 in postage and the frame arrived broken. 

               After the party, you’re still the answer to my security questions.

I met a stranger yesterday. He’s a stranger today.

               I change my saved address on google maps and imagine a life ubering without you.

I subscribe to the ebird rare bird alert for anywhere but here. 

Latch-hook

easy movement: 
		take a piece of pre-cut yarn. make a loop with your index finger & thumb
	put the latch hook through the loop and under the canvas
the latch will close around it 
& pull

latch-key kid
we do this everyday
I learned how to alone

		hook: follow mom—
		            loop, slide through & under
		            pull

grandma working 
grandpa working 
uncle already gone 
		
             hooked, I became

on making perfect rugs 
not to step on but hang 
my own hand-made decor
they made me smile

		hook: smile for people
            wear your hair long
            stay out of the sun
            pale skin, rose lips
            tiny waist, tiny wrist 
            keep your jade
            stay this way

hou leng—my grandmother says
when I hold the rug up,
two shades of pink
‘B’ in the middle, for Barbie
it’s the first one I finish, alone

		an object of my own making




*the image in this poem is taken from a Boye latch-hook rug-making manual, which can be seen online here.