ASYMMETRY
Everything’s slightly off.
Neurasthenic hours.
For months the firmest of acts refuse
to keep still, unspooling from me
at low frequencies.
It’s only when I scour the ground
nose slanted in the dirt
that I spot an open parenthesis.
I pluck it out with my teeth.
Careful not to undo
that knotted eye of beginnings.
Now I proceed through my days with caution.
Not knowing when this aside I live out will close.
—- Jenny Xie