Hate Crime Diptych

Karina Teichert

A blue eye dissected me 
Devoured bones of terracotta, 
Kite-string hair, 
Paper skin and bamboo blood 

 The same blue eye discarded me 
Spat hot, white venom 
On every letter of my middle name 
Pulled back its eyelids and 
Told its kids 
“Stay away from that dirty chink.” 

“I like girls with made-in-China pussies” 
“I like girls with eyes 
Like grains of rice 
And high-pitched voices 
Who never say no.” 

Was it you who burned 
My ancestors 
In that take-out box? 


We shimmer through 
A translucent reality, 
Woven from the finest silk 
And immortal peach fuzz. 

Our hanfu billow gently in the wind, 
Tethered to our 
Willow branch spines 
That never break. 

Eight peony blossoms sink 
To the bed of the Huang He, 
Tucked in to the music of gunshots, 
Swallowed up by the infinite jaws of the American eel. 

 The Jade Rabbit’s golden tear 
Floods the Great Wall. 

 Asia bleeds, 
But my mother will never die. 

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