Blackbird an online journal of literature and the arts Fall 2007  Vol. 6 No. 2

POETRY

Chris Abani
Victoria Chang
Michael Chitwood
Keith Ekiss
Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
Beth Ann Fennelly
Raza Ali Hasan
James Hoch
Cyan James
Julia Johnson
Larry Levis
Khaled Mattawa
Timothy O’Keefe
Catherine Pierce
Jon Pineda
John Poch
Austin Segrest
Louie Skipper
Ron Smith
Robert Thomas
Joshua Weiner
Lesley Wheeler
Charles Wright


VICTORIA CHANG

After Hanging Mao Posters

All night her mind prepared like a
tilled field—

not a thing missing but a lake that
glows
      
like a wolf’s eye.  Thighs, hair,
shrieks,

a toeless foot dragging itself. 
The red

poppies open and close, like little
mouths. 

Waiting to fill and empty out the
next

person with its scent.  Something is
about

to.  Something is always about
to.