Leber, Michelle

Flinders Academic Commons

      Empire of Wives  In the voice of the Yellow Emperor of China (c.2697-2597BCE)  Misshapen Mo Mu― do not curse me for propagations of lineage  or be-groan bedroom arts or avert your eyes from needles soothing stagnations in my head. I am sorry for war,  devastations that cast your world dim.  I view your inland sea more as a reservoir of kindness― even my vain Fang Lei knows to slice bamboo to rake hysteria from your hair. And what of Tong Yu, with her culinary chop-chops, feeding you parcels of wine-seeped pig’s trotters― she’s Goddess of Fattened Forms, she’ll keep your waist wide as an oak.  Mo Mu, I am certain it is only the grievous peak of your spine, that scares away ghosts.   Michelle Leber          Michelle Leber. ‘Empire of Wives’. Transnational Literature Vol. 6 no. 1, November 2013. http://fhrc.flinders.edu.au/transnational/home.html   

Empire of Wives

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