Catherine Chen: THE ORDINARY IS WORTH INVESTIGATION

Catherine Chen
THE ORDINARY IS WORTH INVESTIGATION

How the body performs a blockade:
I’m not here.
Everyone wants to prove they can fight a tank.
The Japanese had tanks, screams the 94-year-old woman.
Her daughter is silent.
My phone vibrates
By the river stray dogs are tanning,
Aligned by size and possibly allegiance.
What began these zones
I follow the path
As night engulfs pedestrian noise,
The morning after,
We realize how the soil must’ve slept.
That’s right. Consider the garden.
How the body performs distance:
Torn receipts scattered over dewy compost
Off they go

Catherine Chen is the author of the chapbook Manifesto, or: Hysteria (Big Lucks) and Other Monsters of Love (Container), both forthcoming in 2019. Their work has appeared in The Rumpus, Apogee, Hobart, Sundog Lit, and Nat. Brut, among others. They’ve been awarded fellowships and residencies from Millay Colony, Lambda Literary, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and Art Farm.