Ghazal for Moon Maiden
Stephanie Chang
—A reimagining of the myth of lovers Chang’e and Hou Yi
Creation opens on a cliff-hanger. I hemorrhage. I dress my hymen
in alabaster herb and watercress, welcome this one woman
show: Come now. While the oil’s still spilling summer and Hou Yi
reeks of carnival sweets. The Emperor summons the good men
of this country, my husband the best and his aim even better.
My voice silvers into a thousand wind-chimes: An omen
I failed to foresee, as Hou Yi hunts a theater of suns, savors
all nine screams. Was it myth or murder—I mean, suspected man
-slaughter—what made him do it? Springtime and the Emperor
strips us of celestial citizenship. I trade silk for silkgrass, man
the laundry. As housewife, I burn all the tong jyun and blacken
Hou Yi’s teeth. Perhaps on purpose. One morning, I find a man
-made bowstring at the breakfast table. My veins plucked and
missing and now, weapons. I promise to be as pure as albumen,
whatever beautiful demands of me. But Hou Yi shrugs. White noise
like taffy on my throat. The way I steal out of the house, men’s
clothes on. Light-starved until dawn. My name seared across the skin
of the Kunlun Mountains. There, I barter my bravery, my woman
-hood: A sheath of light to coax my body back to heaven.
I wander a grove of peaches until seafoam, spider lily stamen
drop from the sky in barrels. My name: never sweeter
as I crush both to elixir. I drink and hunger for a free man’s
feast. What I dreamt of on the chariot ride home: Hou Yi passed
out beside a Tsingtao beer. His personal fanfare. His abdomen
skewered by an arrow. Me, counting the weapons, drawing
the tide over his body like a blanket. I am tired of loving men
while the herring of my heart migrates to sea. A sunk cost.
Come autumn, fireworks cry shrapnel, and I hate rabbits and men.
about the writer
Stephanie Chang is a rising freshman at University College London and currently based in Vancouver, Canada. Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Kenyon Review, Berkeley Poetry Review, Hobart, and Cosmonauts Avenue. She has been recognized by the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Poetry Society of the UK, Anthony Quinn Foundation, and Adroit Prize for Poetry. Her micro-chapbook, NIGHT MARKET IN TECHNICOLOR, is forthcoming from Ghost City Press this August. Stephanie reads for Muzzle Magazine and interns at Sine Theta Magazine, a creative arts print publication by and for the Sino diaspora.