"Self-Portrait, New City Replicant" by Ching-In Chen

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend November 1, 2017   Self-Portrait, New City Replicant   Ching-In Chen

To heat a sister                      House a burn              adjust the replica body                       in the yesterday travel rain   no sister locks the door          at the highest temperature three hours still parked          still comfortable to eat          sugar by force   only because each house keeps a burn together            drinks the page                          An unseasoned tree chosen to go to the sea            Copyright © 2017 Ching-In Chen. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "This poem is part of a series of speculative poems I wrote while waiting out heavy rainstorms that caused flooding in Houston, Texas, in April 2016 and prevented me from commuting the long distance to work. I captured the surreal feeling of being hemmed in yet disconnected from severe weather by collaging translated language through my father's Facebook statuses into what I was writing in response. I kept recycling and reusing this language while continuing to write in response to personal disaster (having our landlords in the Third Ward lose their house to foreclosure without informing us) and public disaster (Hurricane Harvey)." —Ching-In Chen   Ching-In Chen is the author of recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2017). An assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, they live in Houston, Texas. Poetry by Chen   recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2017) "Becoming Weather, 21" by Chris Martin "NIGHTMORNINGSKY" by Peter Cooley "Weather Eye Open" by Sarah Gridley Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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