Natalie Wang: “Miss You. Would Love to Take You for Butter Chicken Again.”
For b., after Gabrielle Calvocoressi
miss you. do not care if you come as a shade
or a cold spot in the room
or as yourself as you last were.
do not care if you are here with lungs or without.
we are beyond such heavy things now.
remember all the ghost stories we shared.
i have so many more to tell now.
i am sure you do too.
would love to take you out for
late-night butter chicken and cider.
would love to order for you and hear you laugh
at my chinese. miss you. would love to hear you laugh.
you can tell me if you have found your father
or your childhood dog. tell me if you have had rest.
you were tired for so long. have you tried
our mcdonald’s seaweed shaker fries?
would love to take you for fries.
make a quip about us & food
& how unoriginally asian we are in this.
miss you. please let me take you for unoriginal fries.
tell me with salt-encrusted fingers about
your latest eye candy in the marvelverse
& i will tell you how much you are loved.
you can make a bad joke about your being gone
& how you told us all before not to mourn
& i will tell you how we disobeyed. miss you.
scold me for not listening to your spotify playlist. miss you.
what is another ghost story? miss you.
remember how we used to joke about death & dying.
remember the years of long silence, the kind that
just happens when people have grown apart.
Natalie Wang is a Singaporean poet who is more likely to be found writing fanfiction or making Powerpoint decks than writing poetry. She can be found at www.nataliewang.me.
