Jenny Zhang

My baby first birthday

 

 

my mom was a baby and inside of her was another baby

if not for that baby I would still be just

like

an idea no one had yet

I walk around with fists pulled up to my sides

so when someone who has wronged me walks by

I can hit the air

breezing past the goo goo

with my baby fists

my goo goo oozes goo

my cunt hurts

being disease free is a breeze

my mom’s choco coco

gets inside of me and says, “goo!”

I feel close to her

we stay up late and scoop out goo

from one another’s brilliant snatches

diurnal creatures can fuck off

we are quite happy this way

You are the poorest person here

 

 

when I was born I was born

a victim

when you were born you were born

a hero

just kidding

you were anything you wanted to be

remember that you are supposed to

barf on me

& I am supposed to barf

on myself!

 

Go ahead

& say that I have not planned for my future

let’s hear you say that

your degree in sociology

is as important as being an unborn baby

the day we dropped the atom bomb

you cloud

& the mushroom tip of your dick

is just disgusting!

 

I don’t give if the third world makes hygiene

difficult

“I said I don’t give if the third world

puts you at a disadvantage

I didn’t choose to be born where I was born

& if your baby was not born

the day yr flower dress

got burned onto yr back

that’s like

not my fault!”

 

Okay

so is it my fault

that I want to leave this poetry reading

so I can go look at the electrical fire

& applaud for the fireman

who we think are great

because they are not poets

but one of them says something

he’s like, burhgh and we ask for more!

biography

JENNY ZHANG is the author of the poetry collection, Dear Jenny, We Are All Find (Octopus Books, 2012). Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been published or are forthcoming in HTMLGIANTGlimmertrainPen American, Coconut,OctopusJezebelThe Guardian, and Vice. She writes for teenage girls at Rookie magazine, and teaches high school students in the Bronx. She’s currently a writer-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.