“Personal Effects”

So many smiles of hers were turning to the right,
Images of Penny Lane with the mane of a fur coat
Or looking down in gentleness as the light made her hair look ruddy red.
The floral print shirt of hers from Beijing
Belonged to an ex-boyfriend
In the car chatting down Eternal Peace Street
Thick brown pig liver
intestines soup
As homey as her family was to me.
Toto’s “Africa” was being rediscovered
Later the City Pop “Plastic Love”
Quoting John Lennon on my WeChat felt subversive.
Once a Yahoo! News story cautioned about falling in love with a spy.
The Mao portrait hangs like a Warhol
As though the past rules over us
The dismayed look of real joy
Of catching her unawares
In a snap, the aplomb journalist
Long zebra-like bars of the crossing.
A tawny sweater.