REID MITCHELL is a New Orleanian teaching in China. More specifically, he is a Scholar in Jiangsu Province’s 100 Foreign Talents Program, and a Professor of English at Yancheng Teachers University. He is also Consulting Editor of CHA: AN ASIAN LITERARY JOURNAL. His poems have been published by CHA, ASIA LITERARY REVIEW, IN POSSE, and elsewhere and he has a collection due out from a small press in Berlin. Way back in the 20th century, he published the novel A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY. He also had a separate career as an historian of the American Civil War.
Three Chords
My best night and saddest moment
in China was the night you wore
your sweater dress, the one with slits
and we went out to eat dishes such as
Da Pan Ji and Ughyur flatbreads
and yet when you came home with me
I had to send you away because you
are my student. You walked through
the black iron gates and for a few minutes
stood revolving in your light brown cashmere
coat, your almond face white in the moon