Poem for the Day: September 27th, 2021

From the Taiwan Cypress in Alishan by Jennifer Huang

it’s true
they say
we can’t help
family

sometimes they walk
after dusk searching
in fear
half of us have disappeared
our fragrance is that of god
we wail for the lost
axed down for profit
their knives scratch our surface
beneath our shadows
for something we
dissipate and become

Today’s poem originally appeared in the May 2021 issue of Poetry. In addition to their writing, Huang is also the Independent Publicist at The Shipman Agency. Their debut collection, Return Flight: Poems, is due to be released on January 18th, 2022 by Milkweed Editions.

Update: I had some issues getting today’s poem to format in the way the author originally intended, so I am including a screenshot below of the way the text is supposed to appear on screen. It is taken from the Poetry Foundation’s website.

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