Hot Pot Magazine

By Jun Ying Wen

I can’t help how
this life raised me
thinking what is noise

if not something
to trace back to
the body

if not my name
having to be unknotted
from the mouth

for all the times
I have knelt at the feet
of this country

as mute as chalk dust
moulting from the
blackboard because

sometimes the way in
only takes you to
another outside

but I want to feel as solid
as the shape of other names
want to know what it’s like

to stand here while
my tongue flings out
this bit of sound

“Jun Ying Wen is a writer and artist born in southern China. She is currently a student of English and Peace, Conflict, and Justice at the University of Toronto. Her work can be found in Acta Victoriana, Trinity Review, and elsewhere.”