Journey to Xishuangbanna by James X. Wang

Journey to Xishuangbanna

the old country stashes swamps in the far southwest

breezes are claggy, sweetly miasmic

jungle sweat drags out the dawn

sallow orb: flicker on

a cacophony of shrieks and chitters

pedestrians crack peanuts at the roadside

dancing speckles cast in the understory

leafcutter ants on a mission for the holy seven

firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea

fodder for sex, sorcery and seasons

humvees bound for Rangoon steamroll through

black market betel and china white

a propaganda party

they brave the Mekong on braided rafts

while fisher girls leap in and out of catfish form

stalks protrude from the marsh at night

thirty stories tall and turgid

carved-out condos in the purple landscape

iridescent windows, polka-dotted eels

they reel me into the deep

when summer monsoons bathe my skin

devour sinew, then bone

the city submerges its name

returns me to primordium

until time to congeal again

- previously published in Arc (95, Summer 2021)