Photo by Eve Aschheim
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Things I Should Tell You Before It’s Too Late
Princess Sitting Duck isn’t my real name
I am not one of the ones marred
By inexplicable outbursts of an obstreperous nature
Most times I am a curtain of conviviality
Don’t make friends with my dog
I used to collect ideas until I realized
I don’t have any of my own
Learn to shirk your duties
With dignity I always say
I used to dress in a squirrel suit
and play in the forest
where it flanks the railroad tracks
leading to the haunted mines
I never reached the rank of colonel
You can hold my hand
as long as you don’t lose it
I serve drinks in tall blue glasses
I am never sure which principles are mine
Sometimes I get glassy-eyed
and pee on the neighbor’s porch
I no longer throw stones at children
I bow whenever I see a high-ranking dignitary
stop to tie his shoes
or zip up his fly
Princess Sitting duck isn’t my nickname either
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John Yau has published many books of poetry, fiction, and criticism. He has a book of poems, Genghis Chan on Drums, forthcoming from Omnidawn, and a monograph on the Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong, from Lund Humphries (both fall 2021). He is the publisher of Black Square Editions, and his reviews of art and poetry appear regularly in the online magazine Hyperallergic Weekend. He lives in New York City and teaches at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University). [For more information on, and work by, John Yau, click here.]
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John Yau, 1983. Oil on canvas by Robert Berlind