Breath for Metal
Ching-In Cheng

This is a story
I've kept in soft
orange inside
my steel body. I've wanted

to wait until I've 
cooled to hum, until
my touch wouldn't burn.

I've practiced to gentle 
      not to be odd. To remember
me a calm line transmitting not artificial

sugar smile melts a rainy spring I don't want
to feel a tug   you wait again for what's 
     dissolved into scent for this week. 


Ching-In Cheng is a trans/gender queer and
fewer Chines American poet. They are the authors of
recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2017), winner of 
the 2018 Lamba Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, 
an assistant professor at the University of Washington 
Bothell, Chen lives in Lake Forest Park , Washington on
Snokomish lands.