Because my parents don’t sleep in the same bed and you are saying / Breathe baby breathe / Baby run from the sidelines // Don’t know red tape and don’t know crime // Baby your mother’s a nice woman // Doing god’s work in a white button-down // I say this ‘cause my house is dirty // TCM herbs strewn over the floor // Baijiu like varnish over the family photo // Desire-prone apron / Disney fridge magnets // Neither of us know our mothers’ maiden names // Yeah, the world’s a stage // Blood-red curtains / Shade of my mother’s pedicure // Yes she dances though she’s trained in opera // Waiting for any curtain call // Closing over her birthplace // I love her because she knows / Yellow by Coldplay / I love you because you make me feel // As though my ribs may be stars // I love you because you are nobody’s land // A permit for conquest // Boyfriend material or just // Man with a talent for forehead kisses // Mouth healing a wartime wound // Does it matter anyway // When my mother tells me youth is a pregame // Though she never did get to the party of // Vodka-sweat / Mirrorball confession / Against a national anthem // which might as well be Ke$ha / or Teresa Teng // Some sweet night where she lights // Incense over a homeland and I am ash kneeling // At your bed and you say / Run baby run