WILL JOE CRY?

A poem by Shelly Chang

From a couch far, far, away, there once were tears
Shed not for sadness and grief nor caused by fears
With cheeks of rose and light shining from his eyes
They were the kind of tears that held no cries
There were only a few, perfect in shape and form
But with each came the culmination of a perform storm
Of the suppressed emotions of a young boy seen
Wearing black and gold on mental fields of green
In an instant, the boy surfaced on the man’s face
No longer sleeping, but now in a race
For this senses to capture each moment of joy
That was the realized dream of this man-child boy
With is yellow towel he wiped his tears away
Then silence as there was nothing more to say
Will we see this boy again on Sunday?
Perhaps, if he does not get geeked up on Tuesday

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Will “Will Joe Cry?” Make you Cry?
A review by keychanger

With nervous anticipation I jumped into the recently penned offering from Shelly Chang. It has been almost a year since she stormed the literary scene with her heart wrenching debut “Ode to Farve.” Soon to be answered questions raced through my mind……….would she suffer the sophomore jinx that plague so many poets and slowly vanish into the world of one-hit wonder trivia?..........was the subject too ambitious, foolhardy, or just blatant hubris?.........could anyone truly capture - with mere words - the pure, raw, unadulterated emotions of that day? I was there! I witnessed this! How dare she soil my memory with her interpretation?!!?!!

Yes, the framework of my review already etched. Reading the poem only perfunctory. I need a good laugh.

Immediately immersed, the smirk now gone, swept back to that moment. The tears, the silent joy of my comrade – all back. I share that couch.

Shelley Chang has done it again. Now only one question remains………..can even the mighty Stillers do it again - bring back that boy?


Keychanger is a freelance critic in Carlsbad, CA where he lives with lovely fiancé, Shelly Chang
Reprinted with permission of New Yorker Magazine