Roy Zhu
1. Tight Diamond
My father hates tolls. As a child, his words broke hard on me.
These potholes are shit! We would often drive anxious circles
out of the way of those gates. Those tax-hungry vinegar-born
wretches—tell me what we pay for anyway! He knows roads
as his hand its creases— tattooed in the geography of his palm.
2. Partial Cloverleaf
His palm fits the wheel of a Toyota. He has learned the wheel,
the battery, the crank. Each rippling neuron and tendon of car,
the belly of the beast. He is gifted. He is smiled upon, perhaps
when the car maintains a level head despite his weaving fits.
Just tell me where to go already, damn it! The car tries to obey.
3. Turbine or Windmill
He mourns two countries, both stillborn to him. What do you
even know about me? I look at the atlas to help steady his path.
Slap your teachers. Wake them up! We are in a falling capsule
Shuddering in a burning dream. I imagine a child’s pinwheel,
the faith required to believe in the sound of spinning wind.
4. Round Brocade
I ask him, why close yourself to family? He stares as if asked
to tell me a lie. When you are older you will understand when
to give up. I do not know this yet, but in California these exits
disturb him. We pass the turnout to Pasadena and my mother
clutches my hand. This is the country of many-broken knots.
5. Auspicious (Pánchǎng)
We ask him to heal, but it doesn’t work like that. He doubles the
tension, pulls tight. Tug of war. Fuck the academics, fuck my
ex-wife. Better not to speak. My mother says just enjoy the view
of a place we might not return to. I look back to see us pass a fork
in the road. One path angles east, down an unwelcome valley.
6. Cross Knot
The other is the road we travel. Clovers bloom in the mocking grass.
Don’t question me, if you talked less blah blah blah, we could get on
with it. We have lots and lots to see. To get on with, to simply accept.
A man may tremble at the wheel, but some things are simple, straight.
Unforgivable.
Roy Zhu is a junior Creative Writing and Environmental Science major who grew up in Greater Boston! His favorite poet at the moment is Rumi and lately he has been listening to Victoria Monét, Rico Nasty, and Kali Uchis.
