Kuo Zhang

Fresh Lychee in a Vermont Asian Mart

My boys don’t know
the king of fruits in China, 
the smile of princess.

They’re fooled 
by its alligator skin,
no interest in tonguing 
the porcelain-like 
smoothness, the tender, 
sweet, juicy baby cheek. 

It’s Imperial Concubine Yang’s
favorite in Tang Dynasty, exhausting
countless fastest horses
for shipping 1000 miles
from the tropical to Xi’an. 

But they can’t get it:
Who’s Yang?
Where’s Xi’an?
When’s Tang?

So here’s another story:
the first day lychee left 
the tree, its color 
changed.

The second day,
its fragrance
lost.

The third day,
its taste 
soured. 

The fourth day,
all gone. 

Kuo Zhang is a faculty member at the University of Vermont. She has a bilingual book of poetry in Chinese and English, Broadleaves (Shenyang Press). Her poem “One Child Policy” was awarded second place in the 2012 Society for Humanistic Anthropology [SHA] Poetry Competition held by the American Anthropology Association. She served as poetry & arts editor for the Journal of Language & Literacy Education in 2016-2017 and also one of the judges for 2015 & 2016 SHA Poetry Competition. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Gyroscope Review, Coffin Bell Journal, The Roadrunner Review, Lily Poetry Review, Mom Egg Review, Bone Bouquet, K’in, North Dakota Quarterly, Rigorous, Adanna Literary Journal, Raising Mothers, and MUTHA Magazine.