for a friend, whose name, whose face I no longer remember
when I was a child my family lived
in a building six stories tall
and a field of wild grasses grew in front
and in the field was a well with a heavy iron lid
that one day opened, left agape
so in the field there came to be a mouth
with a long throat full of rain, the husks
of crickets and yellow dust, tiny bodies
the rain overpowered & when the wind blew
the mouth hollowed with sound
in the field you and I played with our fingers
pointed into guns, our elbows and knees
patched in the loose camouflage of dirt
we climbed my father’s red motorcycle
ticking as it cooled by the tall grass
here we rushed and tumbled
straining against the other as if to break
through to another life
and the mouth in the field opened
waiting for you to find it
Anni Liu is the author of Border Vista (Persea Books), which won the 2021 Lexi Rudnitsky Prize. She received her MFA from Indiana University and has been supported by the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Anderson Center at Tower View, a Djanikian Scholarship from The Adroit Journal, and an Undocupoets Fellowship. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Ecotone, World Literature Today, and elsewhere. Born in Xi’an, China, she now lives in northern Louisiana and is an editor at Graywolf Press.
Reprinted from Border Vista. Copyright © 2022 by Anni Liu. Used with the permission of Persea Books.
Anni Liu’s latest book is Border Vista (Persea Books, 2022). Visit with her and her work at the Miami Book Fair 2022 on 11/19, at 11 am in Room 6100. Cover art by: Persea Books.
Welcome to SWWIM Every Day’s preview coverage of Miami Book Fair (MBF) 2021! The poets whose work you’ll be reading every weekday from October 25 through November 12 are just a few of the many authors from around the world participating in this year’s MBF, the nation’s largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. They all look forward to sharing their work, thoughts, and ideas both in person and online. Between November 14 and November 21, new poet conversations and readings will be launched and available for free on miamibookfaironline.com (in addition to other content). For more information, visit the website and follow MBF on Instagram and Twitter at @miamibookfair and use the hashtag #miamibookfair2021.