Devour Me (Delicacy)

“Tell me it was for hunger / & nothing less.” – Ocean Vuong

I’m more than just a mooncake. / An Asian rarity – a secret inside. / Please. Just see me. / I look
fresh. Like a steamed Shanghai / dumpling that spills its guts from chopsticks’ fingertips. /
Chopsticks that are meant to be our hands’ mothers – / my mother won’t understand / when I say
I’m not pretty like the tablecloth. / When I say I pick my skin / like sesame seeds from unbaked
dough. / Red bean bun. Lonely bum. / I don’t know how to fit in / to your Western palette
without being / a leftover, neglected. / Yes, I am getting cold. / Call me disgusting. / Like spiced
chicken claws or pale oxen intestines. / Yes, not even this is enough / to keep your white teeth –

Warm.

By Lucas Lui

Lucas Lui is a poet from New York City, beginning his literary reputation during his junior year in high school. His inspirations include Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, and Ocean Vuong. Lucas has performed his poetry for the Poetry Society of New York, the New York Public Library, as well as for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently, Lucas Lui is a freshman at New York University as an English major.