Tomb Sweeping Festival
By Rowena Chodkowsi
Thank you for the bowl of broth
Brewed from strange unspeakable things
Steeped over seven days
You gave your granddaughter twenty-seven years ago
So I could come to be
Thank you for making the journey east
To die on Staten Island
By the cold gray Hudson
By the mouth of a river
So far from Jiangmen
Face in my hands, I can feel your cheekbones
Softened by three long generations
I learned to speak too late to thank you
Now all I have to offer
Is the instant
Between fire and ash
Rowena Chodkowski is a Chinese-American writer based in Beijing. She is a founding member of the Spittoon Literary Collective and an active volunteer in the Beijing literary community.