Lynn Wang

Navel-Gazing

A man on the corner
is pumping his sign
JESUS LOVES YOU
HAS LIFE 4 U
swinging the blue
thunderstorm of
his head

pretending not
to see me pretending
not to see the impiety
of the night trafficking
around him slick and hot
as a hemorrhage

I love you Sign Man
You do good work and
you would get first dibs into
heaven if it were up to me
I love you too he ventriloquizes
through the smoke filling
my mouth

We’re two cosmic constants
You with a glossy ear held
to the radio silence
of the universe
waiting for the go-ahead
and I’ll forever be here
wrapped up in a man
I can’t love

like the way I
love you Sign Man
but this poem isn’t
about you

 

 

 

Lynn Wang is an MFA candidate at UC Irvine. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog.