poetry

Helen of the Hinterland


"Look," she pointed to herself, "This is a face that can launch
a thousand ships."

Helen was not drunk. She had just spent a night in jail for
drunken driving. Steam and smoke mingled into abstract
landscapes inside the half-lit bar.

Her friend, a beautiful woman, was unnerved by the gazes of
men with hungry looks. "Have you noticed how they stare at
me," said Helen.

Helen had two children by the same married man.
The first was an accident. The second, to trick him.

Sitting cross-legged, Helen blew a mouthful of smoke in her
friend's face.


by Yun Wang

from The Book of Jade, Winner of the 15th Annual Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize, Story Line Press, Ashland, Oregon, 2002

See and hear Yun Wang reciting poetry from The Book of Jade on youtube here, here, and here - at the 2009 Mark Allen Everett Poetry Series at the University of Oklahoma.

* Image credit, Woman's Face, by Henri Matisse, 1948