door ajar

the room was

a bestiary of

found things

wounded

by the nicks

of damp years

nobody could

remember,

and yet

the chachkies

pressed

to me,

beggars of

history; for

each radiated,

so radiant,

even in

the chain-link

of window

light, spread

open as

an invitation

to know

you:

walking

two aisles

ahead in

the Ross

Dress for Less,

smelling

each teacup,

as if

an offering

to the gods,

as if

stolen out

of time,

as if.

Based in Los Angeles, Huan He is the author of Sandman (2022), which won the 2021 Diode Editions Chapbook Contest. His poems appear/are forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal (2021 Adrienne Rich Award Semifinalist), A Public Space, Hayden’s Ferry Review (Poetry Contest Finalist), Alaska Quarterly Review, Palette Poetry, wildness, RHINO, and Black Warrior Review (Boyfriend Village). He is a PhD candidate in American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Tweets: @huan_direction.