Mending

By Tao Lin

Bizarre, long-term disorders
can be harvested in people
I had three, four, or five 
sleep disorders
Wandering through 
forests of biases 
to reach meadows
of relative objectivity
I grew a moustache 
and went to Chile
Sea creatures collapsed
into brief poems
and double helixes
Gratitude and bamboo
and colored pencils
and extraterrestrials
seemed important
Taping my mouth shut
and listening to bamboo
made time feel like home
Home is where stories begin
Disempowering thoughts occur
and I start turning against people
like in some strange dream
I ate too much breadfruit
yesterday and today
Soon I will try to think
of reasons to summon
highly intelligent aliens

Image Credit: Bamboo, Unidentified Artist/ THE MET.



About the author:

Tao Lin is the author of ten books of prose and poetry. His next novel, Leave Society, is forthcoming from Vintage Books in summer 2021. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and visit his website.