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TPCReview Issue 002

Yong-Chen Perng

What’s in a dish?

In high school I asked to go to Thailand;
My mother accused me of wanting a sex change.
But she made mala hot pot for dinner the next evening.
After she raises her voice, she makes tomato scrambled eggs.
She doesn’t say “I love you”
She says “Come and visit me. You never come home” and
“What do you need? Mother will buy for you” and
“I made tamagoyaki. Look how tender it is.”
It is not enough. But sometimes,
She calls me her child instead of her daughter,
And then “I love you” seems redundant.

Yong-Chen is a student at National Taiwan University, where they are studying Foreign Languages and Literatures. They like poetry almost as much as they like cats. You can chat to them about either on Instagram (@whatthefrillyhell) or Facebook (@yongchen.perng).