Square Cells
The screens plant bulbs
of tension inward, but hit no nerves.
River of speechless current.
My gaze faces the screen, laps up
blue-eyed policemen in bloom
and a fat fog fanning out by the inch
across cities in eastern China.
Refresh for a politician yawning
wolfish monosyllables.
In the bed of pixels, I can make out
truth and fiction taking turns,
one imitating the other.
My window faces stone and glass.
My screen faces my face.
The clean square cells of this city
contain so many faces.
Each brightened by a fear
which makes them commonplace.
Credit
Copyright © 2017 by Jenny Xie. Used with permission of the author.
Author
Jenny Xie

Jenny Xie's debut poetry collection, Eye Level, was selected by Juan Felipe Herrera as the winner of the 2017 Walt Whitman Award, given by the Academy of American Poets.
Date Published: 2017-04-13
Source URL: https://poets.org/poem/square-cells