This is Yunnan by Chloe Huang

Butter yellow corn fed by seasons of rain

When the sun sweeps across fertile land

and catches

the flash of a silver earring

This is Yunnan

This is Yunnan

There’s a hole in the roof

a wild blue yonder 

Unveiled, hollow

Like the mouth of a liquor bottle

Rice wine splashes at my ankles

Lie down on our rocklike beds

You’ll see the stars, as the heavens 

collapse

This is Yunnan

Walls balance precariously on mountain’s end

Like candles, it takes

only a baby’s breath of wind and the

Flicker of flame snuffs out, bricks collapse the way wax 

melts 

into a conglomeration of worthlessness

She fastens the lock, sunset

a runny egg yolk in her wake

Closing in on us, metal gates

The verdict of a single bolt

The forgotten children gathering dust

Caught in a net of resounding echoes

Calls of help are tossed 

around and around as

The sky rains crystalline tears

This is Yunnan