A dug out ditch full of water sits in front of a lone, two story, single room house. The structure is blue and white. Dirt and a few trees surround the structure.

筷子1

Isabella Wang

[1] chopsticks an expression of the heart and determination
arrives in pairs[2]

[筷] semantic 忄 heart
phonetic 夬 determination

radical 𥫗 bamboo

the heart hurries to light incense
prays for another’s week of rain / year of harvest /gentle flood
every morsel motivated by determination and pleasure in one’s daily work
we collected rain in a pot
served each day fresh on a bed of steamed plain noodles / sesame oil
spring onions diced
the chopsticks were our ancestors’ way of turning over morsel
after morsel of soil we called home
the invention of the speed of bamboo scrambles in the hands of the young
determined to serve the elders who fed them first

[2] learning to use chopsticks is a lot like riding the bicycle
both muscle memory
meaning the origins of the human need
for feeding / sustenance
/ salt and movement (in select cases)
are one and the same

Note: With thanks to Doyali Islam for inspiring me with her unique innovations with the rupturing of the poetic form in Heft (McLelland & Stewart 2020).

Isabella Wang stands on a rope swing in front of a field of sunflowers. She is smiling and wears a woven hat.

To celebrate the publication of issue 44.1 Growing Room, we’re delighted to share a poem by the 2020 Growing Room Literary & Arts Festival Youth Engagement Coordinator, Isabella Wang. Isabella worked hard to coordinate our youth reading held at Massy Books, one of the only events that was able to occur before the cancellation of the festival due to COVID-19. Isabella’s enthusiasm for supporting and uplifting emerging young writers is inspiring, and she’s also a brilliant writer and poet in her own right. You can read more from our amazing contributors by ordering the issue online, and watch this space as we share more content from contributors to the Growing Room 44.1 issue all throughout the month of March.

Isabella Wang is the author of two poetry collections, On Forgetting a Language (Baseline Press 2019) and Pebble Swing (Nightwood Editions forthcoming fall 2021). She has been shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s Far Horizon’s Poetry Contest, Minola Review’s Inaugural Poetry Contest, and shortlisted twice for The New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Essay Contest. Her poetry and prose have appeared in over thirty literary journals and three anthologies, including Watch Your Head (Coach House Books, Ed. Kathryn Mockler). She is the Editor for issue 44.2 of Room magazine.