Poetry
four
HK Standard
a translation of “American Standard” by Nicholas YB Wong, Superstition Review, Fall 2012
eyes darken evening into oil,
black milk of unhuman wickedness. Tapping
one foot of the market, fish heads & lights. Music
cruised & cursed. Umbrellas: out.
Music. We make. Music. Synchronous
in time, diachronic. There’s a spot Lady Macbeth’s
oil-stained hands, pants. Hot damn she’s
the stalker. Hot damn she’s seeking the weight.
Umbrellas! Oil swishing down urinals.
Oil! Hot oil, golden & beholden. Greed
for porcelain touch. Only Hong Kong
Standard. Approach & be unsexed.
Sd. wish for nonbiological sticky
marzipan machine. & to that, bao
down. Bao filled w. oil & that sorry
spot on our lady’s garbadine. That bend
spills soft. That bend, vicious
& viscus. Umbrellas lean on the wall.
Bodies speak to bodies & walls.
When arms from the oil reach,
only hands seem ordinary. When that touch,
that’s oil, the carbonized kindness kind.
Qingdao
peaches bring a long life | flowers give eternal fragrance
submit to rigorous military training
red flowers blossom on the former battleground
i paint pictures that represent the childhoods of my parents | my grandparents & myself

yr Polis A census reports exclusive
3:19it has to do w the parents & children of Polis B who harvest their crops in this
3:22polis of ours the best polis on earth—
3:26is—are—the forgotten people
3:27under the undertow the underfoot—
3:33we Polis A present this report
3:35of thanksgiving bc work not for the labor
3:38of the people you are going to meet—
3:40you might not start
3:42but yr table wd not be laden w the luxuries that we have all come to
3:46regard as a central
3:48we shd like you to meet some of yr fellow citizens of Polis A who have this before—
3:52or the best polis on earth
3:57this is an old lady solid
3:59or the exodus of Polis B has its beginning every year
yr Polis A automatic
so we went to school
was language spoke
Polis B
though Polis A language in order
so you want to school speaking on the
stand
Polis A how did that
listener
can’t remember past
starting Polis A school
our caller Polis A
Polis A
autopilot mortage financial life
all-pro . . . big league
what did you notice that school terms of
the languages these
what .o..ld C.a..i. did you notice
anything this
Polis A forty dash everything’s tied
it’s slightly more class that’s bigly
subversion on one of the law
one of the redirection tried a future of
Polis A cohort
clerk abortion forward to Polis A from Polis B
crystals hurdle her work
microscopes you find a car wreck
recognition
chivalry shorn called record
but look great uses
first for trade
they’re not occur—Carlos—
for corporate readership corner
you open the door—
Polis A looks great—
will go where the hole where—
trip uproar
apart after work at home opera
called Rashad—
sure drones course for rehire
luxury literal—
lunchtime reduction combat report abt
Polis B
go directly—
microcode talk—
local crack logo or—or—
quatro pro where aircraft relocated or—or—
perk he elected to draw upon that you
what was that the other kids who had to
do that as well
she wanted to
what he did you get only Polis B
it was not a chilled in the class to
didn’t speak
golfing trip—
props for global
after a while Polis A pioneer—
Shiitake—abt to launch a comment for
people coral hopeful by lunch award
medical treatment at all—
which will run—
how long that happened for
a powerful bomb—
five months
happens to yr Polis B-hind it
starts school here you’d speak Polis Alish
what abt yr family—
no going to see that nobody
she starts more useful concern—
when i was little something early on so
i did read
matter too much to me but—
living bc—
nice teacher needlessly despondent—
& i think she was biting acts as
bilingual & she got me in that bag—
issue Polis A like me have something to
surface future Polis B kidnappers teaching
do you what you want to do—
westward—
everybody else’s—
was speaking to speak & i went in bc
yr talk—
not going to be done
soliciting that they were doing
& i was in a different polis on the
other side again—
told me & then i wd tell us tonight
are you going to the polis—
Polis B teen moms—
speaking people in
at both the Polis A border may be different in
olympics thing to us—
people that came out here—
so i just want to be—
no one & two
blue book we will be read Polis B dialect—
became a school
route that you still read to you know
replacements—
i studied attorney—
so that you can be—
didn’t use it for you—
risk using to you—my accent—yes—
it was confusing to me at first—
bc of all these—
is still close in on a project stuff—
that kids have to talk to the kids that
you know—
the you seem to like it’s not only talk
to you in the Polis A—
i wd listen—today—will close & see
what they were Bs i wd say that—
working what the trading bc
what they were talking abt
point is figure out what they were
saying in Polis A
& i think that we had that you can
invest grasp a different language—
yr citizens speak their language—
that might help me ‘cause i was younger
what are yr parents think abt you
Polis A citizens we narcotize for yr safety
Polis A marines—
they liked it—
they were v. happy w it
Polis B denizens they have a happy life bc i wd help
make that sometimes & i wd—
peace now—
thank you arms & order
directions on them
bomb bomb bomb
walls walls walls
insects attack different these nine
law & order law & order
appealing to the store in the house Polis A of
the bc by sending you wd have to—
ask you helas acap on that crap
& yr Polis A hands clap clap
bc it was my sister she-de-de—
unity—they cd at that good—
& i bet he was in his own their own
whales
side as i was only one day—
allegedly destroyed nine alcoa happening
painted pain on staff—
data testing i guess
Polis A select
caption & press
up or down
to adjust its timing
& left or right
to change the duration