A Lady and a Road Map, 1962

I have an image in my mind’s eye. It has not let me down.
-Bernice Bing

I wrinkle the fabric

of God’s dress

on a gleaming lip

that sings. The wind

pulls us together,

my sigh reaching

for your ear.

It touches the faces, thighs

on afternoon runs—

yellow stitches

in the hem of cement.

The clouds tell me

of split brick,

its inherent softness,

the delicacy of gravel

resting in an open wound,

a splinter passing through

a single layer of skin.

I will howl home

as the sun passes

the telephone pole,

thread myself like ribbon

through the chain link fence.


Trinh Lê is a Pushcart-nominated poet and book artist of Vietnamese origin. Their writing appears in Broken Promises: Artists in Solidarity Through the Lens of James Baldwin, MORIA, and The Ana. Trinh self-publishes under the name B!NGO Press. You can find them at @emojipoetics on Instagram.