Trojan Poetry 52: "West of Schenectady" by Chen Chen

Useful Links:

Hear Chen Chen read the poem at this site: http://foggedclarity.com/article/west-of-schenectady/

Chen Chen Interview:https://youtu.be/zcEpHI-Wsag

Chen Chen reading: https://youtu.be/Z12amGb1lLw

Trojan Poetry is created by John Waite and Mike Melie, teachers at North High School in Downers Grove. Follow us on twitter @TrojanPoetrydgn.

West of Schenectady
By Chen Chen

The sun sets like a whispered regret behind the hills or is that a mountain.
Moths come to the screen door as if that was what they were made for.
Moth for screen door. & vice versa.
I don’t have time for their secrets tonight.
I am making my loneliness small. So small it fits on a postcard
a baby rabbit could eat.
The sun sets like an expensive fragrance. Like the memory of a neck.
The coyotes come but don’t they know I’ve named that rabbit, stay away.
Stay far.
The sun sets like a new regret like a flute I am learning to play
& I’m bad at it. Progress is slow.
It’s like saying tapioca pudding into the phone.
& the phone doesn’t work, I just want its weight pressed against my ear
until my ear is sticky.
I’m in the mood for facts.
Big globs of them. Big adult rabbits of science.
There’s a town in Upstate New York called Esperance where the gravity
works fine.
Esperance, NY as if “hope” in French is a higher quality hope.
Made of jewels & brie.
The sun sets like a science special I hated once.