Ren Jie Kan

Autopsy at the Train Tracks

Droplets of sun, flickering on the pages.
                             A book, a burning:
embers that form a child,
                            blooming shrapnel.
             A child sings verses, and it is called Genius.
A child is a bundle:
             torn fabric we breathe
The train tracks,     the train tracks:
         the rushing sleet, pinpricks:
rain we hear as nothing.
          Did steel bore into these wrists:
feral cold, a flicker, a droplet
                             oozing sound. Did he see
the tracks, the train tracks
            mother grace the head,
father singing work-songs.     Watery,
   spittle-coated farmer.stalks shimmering red.
               Violent cold. This morning, a violet sky
pregnant       A bookbag, a chorus
the stain of a brown coat.

Kan Ren Jie writes poetry and fiction. He studied Literature and Creative Writing at Yale-NUS College in Singapore and currently works as a Global Writing and Speaking Fellow at New York University Shanghai. His poems have been featured at Spittoon Monthly, The Parliament Literary Journal, and 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine. He is currently working on a poetry manuscript that considers the life of the Chinese poet Hai Zi 海子, while also examining histories of several Christian artifacts in China.