Aiden Heung

Poetry

Aiden Heung (he/they) is a Chinese poet born in a Tibetan Autonomous Town, currently living in Shanghai. He is a Tongji University graduate. His poems written in English have appeared in The Australian Poetry Journal, The Missouri Review, Orison Anthology, Parentheses, Crazyhorse, and Black Warrior Review, among other places. He also translates poetry from Chinese to English. His translations were recently published in Columbia Journal and Cordite Poetry Review. He can be found on Twitter @aidenheung.

 

Scranton

I couldn’t count how many turns our car made, but I knew the fog that kept us from the town — the air was damp and I smelled oak, or earth, or something much older. I was afraid a moose might bust through these smutted trees. But you reassured me they were smart animals. Dusk clothed the sky with grey. You turned on the radio, Billy Joel, in his soulful voice, was singing. Words escaped me but I thought I picked up a boat, an ocean, and imagined the homeless returning to waves. We were far from the sea, only wind carried the salt like amulets. You sang along, I couldn’t; I lent you to your song. There was a stir in the air, like iron meeting a magnet but I couldn’t fathom the force. Outside the window, lights linked like a string of beads rolling northward into cold.

“ As a writing practice with my friend David, I wrote this poem in response to the prompt ‘a journey to a new place.’ The prompt took me back to a trip to my partner’s hometown, Scranton. It had been years since he went back to the States, and it was certainly my first trip. I suffered from jet lag then. As a result, the road trip became fragmented: the winding road, swaybacked trees, deer-like animals, the smell of forests, and the cold light that took us to the city. On the radio, it was ‘The Downeaster Alexa’ that lent a dreamlike oceanic feeling to the trip. While the story of the song differed from ours, there was the same yearning (especially for my partner then) to return home. It’s been my favorite Billy Joel song since. ”