Red Juice: Poems 1998-2008

Born in the Mekong Delta and raised in the Washington, D.C. area, Hoa Nguyen studied Poetics at New College of California in San Francisco where she earned an MFA. She is the author of three full-length collections of poetry, including As Long as Trees Last (Wave Books, 2012), Hecate Lochia (Hot Whiskey Press, 2009), and Your Ancient See Through (Subpress, 2002). Her poetry has been collected in eight anthologies including Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sound: The Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose (City Lights, 2009), The Best of Fence (Fence Books, 2009), For the Time Being: A Bootstrap Anthology (Bootstrap Books, 2008), Black Dog, Black Night: Contemporary Vietnamese Poetry (Milkweed Editions, 2008), and Not for Mothers Only (Fence Books, 2007). With the poet Dale Smith, Nguyen founded Skanky Possum, a small press journal of poetry and poetics. From Austin, TX, their home of fourteen years, the poets published contemporaries such as Amiri Baraka, Alice Notley, Linh Dinh, Kenward Elmslie, and Eileen Myles. Nguyen currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, where she curates a reading series and teaches poetics privately and at Ryerson University.

• CONTENTSIntroductionYOUR ANCIENT SEE THROUGHonion head I have[Buddha’s ears are droopy touch his shoulders]Baked Alaska[Find & fund It’s a prison oven][bad beats it says now “come on in][I’m almost your cat’s pajamas]LozengeViewBox of Butter[Mulberry mess squish squash][The yelling father makes metered babies]A Story of HistoryI Woke Up this Morning and it was Friday[Unorthodox & impractical one not led]the trillionth day of DNASmell the Purple Incense that May or May Not Smell Better than the Rat You Name “Composition”Ritual for Attracting MoneyPoppies[Sitting there nearly translucent You’ll end up][Baby I’ve drawn your face][A night at the beach what is left][Flying colors land divide a place You]RosyFobHorse Song[Ride a bike to Houston][What can be my disobey][I like the light blue]pink bridge[Untouched bubble gum me]Mnemosyne[Pink bridge hearts that look like]Shred[Pause rate the fall][hard tofu what to eat today][house on fire my mom’s][Underwater Flower]Offing[Crass and burn your terrible][Cold black little puddle stops][Jealous all the pissy things]Mission Dolores“last pieces”Time Out From the Hazard Garden & Instantaneous Baloney18-year-old Kurt Cobain Arrested For Painting “Homosexual Sex Rules” on the Side of an Aberdeen Bank: Police Report of Pocket Contents[Cats underwater a zoo]From a NY Times Review of Klemperer’s 1942 – 1945 DiaryDream 5.22.97Speckled[Mean suddenly Bitch woman]Captive and AbleTo PassSpeaking When Spoken to[Monster made you were][Let’s see if she’ll run away][Years after stealing cattle from the womb]rose patch[You have your ancient see through]DarkSome Dumb LoveHesitating Winter[Staying at work for lunch][Exhaustion break through challenges][Pastel lapel Pretend Erase]Calm In The Vegetable Beard Of Time[Interlocking profiles][Look on the damned lake][Tortured fire and foot held]GreyThe Tea Is You You Are The Tea[Roll in your skull gone green]let’s eat red for fun [Love calls for Hades cold cream]Cupid of Rocks and FlameIndex Finger[Love is a purple angel]Funk Enters English by 1625[Crows and grackles grackles][Pretty headdress on Kidumiel][Because x marks the spot]Wish[Fall in love in Luna][Grow baby grow a brain with curly][Let me be a meaningful soul]Dear Death[Shy mouth not the value of it (lips)]RED JUICEUp NursingThe Earth is in Me“By Goods We Destroy Good”Journey With Investigative BeesThe Unknown WomanYesterdayWore a Hemp HatWomen With Sharp NosesYou Say the LandA Lily MotherI Found Him Beneath a TreeSpring SonnetEurasiacanRonald McDonaldThe News Pictures the BeheadedThe Secrecy of Arms at Dawn“Unhemmed Latitude”If I Can’t Have Another BabyBlackberriesThe Goddess Gave Me RosesLacy LightnotesHECATE LOCHIASome ThingsAdd Some BlueThinking of BernadetteBlue NortherPutt Putt the CarBirthday PoemPost Hurricane Ike Almost EquinoxWe Are Free to EatGodIris AgainDustI’m in VeryThe SizeWater That Falls From the SkyPurple VomitLong LightI Disgorge the VegetationTremendousPropAnother Stabbing BoldfaceOrangeyDrippyA Crime PendulantNo SleepWrite Fucked Up PoemsI’m Sorry for You Sad Marigolds9 Flat Flies in the HouseButterflies, Breastmilk, Chinese Jade, Continuous Present, & MotorcyclesStrangely TouchedI Stole ThatBig Heart Small HeartI Like Being LuckyOdeNeedingGreat Mother of the GodsI Can Extract Myself/ From That EmotionThe Sun PersonHorse HerbSeagullsUgly PoemI’m DrivingSeeds Stuck in GroundStrutI Said Apprehend To SeizePusaThe Ballerina in a Music BoxWashingtonFebruary 2, 2007You Can RideShortNo One WantsMountain GorillasI Could ScreamThis CollapseLivingCupid RidesThe Starbucks MermaidMedina ApplesGet Debt ReliefUpsidedown AgainTuesdayClimbBuildingThe ProblemFrayingWhat Was in Her Ash-Wood BoxChina PlansMonsters in the MythDying LightCat at the DoorHeather’s Real FaceCherriesMondayHecate Doesn’tGrackles GrackThey Sell You What DisappearsCancel ThatCalm-LivedChemical ColorI Need More CowbellTo ExplodeA DebtWe Might Be FoldingTowelsGreat FundsLensesLeap Day NotesBendyGrey SlicePoemSleepyOf Mercury