媽媽的菜園
She was a farmer in another life
Nestled in the rich soils of
A land bordered by
Mountains and Sea
Tilling the soil, making little holes for
Rice to grow
Sprouting like little hairs
On a newborn
She was a farmer in another life
Who did not imagine that
One day
She would go beyond the
Mountains and Sea
To an unfamiliar land,
Barren of familiarity
Yet,
As a farmer in another life
All she knew was to
Bring life
Cultivating life
from
Empty lots
Concrete
Behind the neon sign of the Chinese restaurant
Beijing Garden
There, she birthed
The Mountains and the Sea
About the author:
Lily Tang (she/her) is a feminist, educator, and storyteller. She has experience in both nonprofit and international education, having taught in Taiwan for the past four years. Lily is also an alumni of the Fulbright program. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a dual degree in Political Science and Individual Concentration in Global Studies, focusing on Asian and Asian American Studies. She is also an Advisory Board Member of the UMass Asian & Asian American Studies Certificate Program (AAASCP). Lily believes that storytelling has the power to transcend cultures and build the critical connections we need to make the world a better place and has spent the past two years building a youth storytelling fellowship program to empower Indigenous students in Taiwan. Through her writing, Lily explores the transnational Chinese experience and the complexity, beauty, and pain of immigration and diasporic identity.
Categories: #poetry, Writers' Space
The Asian Review 