Chen Chen, born in Xiamen, China, is the author of the poetry collections Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA, 2022) and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, which won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. He is also the author of the book of essays In Cahoots with the Rabbit God (Noemi, 2023) and teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast.

God, Gods, Powers, Lord, Universe—

by Chen Chen

If you cannot, at the moment, give me much joy,
I get it. I have asked
& received many a great joy
already. Just give me, if you can spare it,
a small joy, say, the size
of a ketchup packet. If that’s too much
to ask for, then how about a small
kindness, a tiny kindness, the size of a kiss

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