Truth becomes fiction when the fiction’s true;
Real becomes not-real when the unreal’s real.
Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin
What I know begins
outside/within
the limits of Shanghai.
A girl is born, youngest of many.
One day –
if it helps say the bowls are empty –
the girl is
sold to strangers.
If it helps say it sounds like a fairy tale.
Did you see the look in her mother’s eyes?
This is what happened/happens
then/now
where money buys
desire/silence.
If it helps say her mother was dead.
What she went on to live, what she became
you
can
imagine.
*
Imagine,
can
you,
what she went on to live? What she became –
if it helps, say. Her mother was dead
desire/silence.
Where money buys
then/now
this is. What happened/happens?
Did you see? The look in her mother’s eyes –
if it helps say it sounds like a fairy tale –
sold to strangers.
The girl is,
if it helps. Say the bowls are empty.
One day
a girl is born, youngest of many.
The limits of Shanghai
within/outside
what I know begins.
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