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#22
POETRY
Autumn 2023
jennifer wong
between us
Between blades of grass, we asked each other about our own childhoods, and I told you my love for
the anime I Love Cream Marron, how beautiful she is when she transforms herself into a
purple-haired singer with her magic pouch.
The other day, you texted me saying, just checking in to see how you are, sent me photos of Matthew playing obstacle race in the garden. I needed a holiday, a real one, one away from the family.
Pigeons pecking on the grass. Two bigger boys comparing their Pokémon cards in the playground. In
our local park, you talked about the days you studied at Guildhall, when you dreamt of becoming an actress. All the odd jobs you did back then to get by. Every part you got auditioned for: from a village baker in the local pantomime, to Anna in The King and I. I just loved it, every moment on the stage.
Once, you taught me how to map out the furthest stars with ‘Star Walk’, your phone a planetarium
glowing in the dark, in your hand.
JENNIFER WONG was born and raised in Hong Kong and now lives in the UK. Wong is the author of 回家 Letters Home (Nine Arches Press, 2020), which was named the PBS Spring 2020 Wild Card Choice. She has taught creative writing at Poetry School, City Lit, Oxford Brookes University and was writer in residence at Wasafiri in 2011. Together with Jason Eng Hun Lee and Tim Tim Cheng, she co-edited Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology (Verve Poetry Press, 2023). Her book, Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere in Contemporary Chinese Diaspora Poetry was published by Bloomsbury in February 2023. Her poems have appeared in Poetry London, Prairie Schooner, Washington Square Review, Bi+ anthology edited by Helen Bowell and Under Your Pillow anthology (Victorina Press) edited by Charley Barnes and Wendy Allen. TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
Image credit: George Jackson,1839–1844, Still Life: A Jug, undated.