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Person of Interest + Sad Boy Public Relations

Person of Interest

山旮旯 or san ka la—a cantonese phrase meaning a place in the middle of nowhere

that’s where we met

千里眼 & 顺风耳 are two folkloric figures in china—together they’re unstoppable

顺风耳 can hear the subtlest of sounds, carried over great distances by the wind

i’ll be discreet, the coast is clear

千里眼 can see over great distances, span thousands of 里

confuse oresteia with osteria, smooth me over royal jelly

a 里 is a unit of measurement also found in korea & japan

conquer me royal navy, come here my possibility tuna

a metaphor for an impossible distance is 十万八千里 (108000里)

state college is an hour & a half from harrisburg. that’s the distance i would go for you. you drove 5

hours to see your ex

in mandarin, li (里) sounds like li you (理由)—or reason

a commie obsessed with me, commie eye candy, who wudda thought

给我一个理由忘记

hey, low sperm count

kiss me open mouth, swift like taylor

the critics have spoken: i’d rather be alone than settle for the bare minimum

rejecting you seems like the easiest thing in the world (you want to be discarded)

you play too much but seduction is a game for two

i hope one day , we are merit ,

young buck , home skillet ,

 

 

Sad Boy Public Relations

1. CONSISTENCY

 

u type immaculate to me—do u hate me

 

2. NONCHALANCE

 

untangle urself for a moment & cheer me up

 

3. CHARM

 

ur prodigious

a savant

ur gf’s so dumb she thinks contemporary music means the beatles

 

4. DRINKING

 

u obfuscate

cling onto flimsy girl

 

5. EFFORTLESSNESS

 

i kiss two fingers pinched together

pretend it is u

 

6. ATHLETICISM

 

the closest u got to sports was athlete’s foot

i feel u hard as pear

 

7. DISCIPLINE

 

hold me down

tell me u don’t like boy

 

8. PUBLIC SPIRITEDNESS

 

seel me like a hawk

i can be tame if u give me what i want

 

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MICHAEL CHANG

A Lambda Literary fellow, MICHAEL CHANG (they/them) was awarded the Kundiman Scholarship at the Miami Writers Institute. A finalist in contests at The Iowa Review, BOMB, NightBlock, & many others, their poems have been nominated for Best of the Net & the Pushcart Prize. Their manuscript "big shot manifesto" was selected by Rae Armantrout as a finalist for the Fonograf Editions Open Genre Book Prize, and another was a finalist in the Diode Editions Book Contest.