Jasmine An



MONKEY APOLOGIZES FOR HIS TRANSFORMATION

I am sorry I
turned into a pine tree.
The other children
asked me to.
They wanted to see
my yellow rind
crack and sprout
pale flesh
just like theirs.

No, that is a lie.
I wanted to show
off. Can't you see
these needles
in my skin?
Sharp hairs
as shroud. I bristle
and belong.













Jasmine An is a queer, third generation Chinese-American who comes from the Midwest. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, she has also lived in New York City and Chiang Mai, Thailand, studying poetry, urban development, and blacksmithing. Her work can be found in numerous publications such as HEArt Online and forthcoming in Heavy Feather Review and Southern Humanities Review. Her chapbook Naming the No-Name Woman won the Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize and is due out in February 2016.







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