poem two / Nellie Wong at Ninety NELLIE WONG celebrates her ninetieth birthday with the publication of Nothing Like Freedom, her fifth collection, after Dreams of Harrison Railroad Park (1977), Death of Long Steam Lady (1986), Stolen Moments (1997), and Breakfast Lunch Dinner (2012). “Nellie Wong at Ninety” is a digital companion project centered around nine poems, chosen by Nellie to represent each decade of her storied life. Poet Nellie Wong poses on Harrison Street…
My very first poem, We can Always, was published in the anthology, Poetry from Violence, published in 1975 by Allie Light for the San Francisco Conference on Violence Against Women. Allie Light and Ann Hershey taught “Woman as Creative Agent” in the early 70’s at San Francisco State University. I credit that class for my writing, as well as the class where the professor told me I should discard my angry poems. Just a bit…
We eat chicken feet and we are not dead Our bowls are rimmed with bats and fire flies Our feet pedal sewing machines making blue denim jeans We march in Chinatown protesting discrimination Corona virus has no yellow skin nor brown eyes We are delivery workers, doctors, dancers, actors Our ancestors memorized the number of doors and windows in the home village, whether our fathers had more than one wife Our foremothers sold their bodies…