Inscribed in a Linen Closet on Angel Island

Inscribed in a Linen Closet on Angel Island Kathryn Hargett-Hsu (bio) [ See PDF for formatting of the poem. ] one spring, uncle cut the throat of a three-legged calf& its shadow followed my shadowuntil mid-autumn festival now my shadow weeps at the sound of bleating ________ my shadow rehearses the interrogation while I sleepwhen I wake, we repeat the little English we know ________ my shadow pinches the beauty off my cheek:inkstone well, an unplucked hair my shadow swallows to avoid deportation ________ before line inspection, my shadow dug a hookwormfrom its heel & crushed it with a slipper ________ on clear nights my shadow walks through the barracks& returns with a fist of yellowed lettuce green moss blossoms where it steps ________ when you die in the wood houseyour name is cremated too [End Page 137] ________ in the yard, my shadow points to a flock of wild geesewhistling overhead you should've known you would regret coming herethe wild geese say& return to their feast of wind [End Page 138] Kathryn Hargett-Hsu Kathryn Hargett-Hsu 徐凯蒂 is an MFA candidate in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis. Born and raised in Alabama, she is the recipient of fellowships from Kundiman, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets, and the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. Most recently, she received the Academy of American Poets Prize and the Lynda Hull Memorial Prize. Find her in Best New Poets, Crazyhorse, Arts & Letters, Muzzle Magazine, The Margins, Salt Hill Journal, Cherry Tree, TaiwaneseAmerican.org, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. Copyright © 2022-2023 Pleiades and Pleiades Press