Writer At Home

She mocks me
as she returns from teaching.
I sit at my computer, writing.
The Chinese word for writer is a cruel joke—
zuojia—
work at home.
It’s not a culturally practical profession.

She likes to replace the first character of the word
with a Chinese homophone,
changing the meaning to sit at home.
I go for a walk
to think and write
and drink Tsingtao at a restaurant across the street
where waiters don’t mock me with their language.

Author Biography

Matthew Lubin is an ESL instructor in New Jersey. He spent almost four years in Shenzhen, China. He writes about his travels at http://BoozeFoodTravel.com. He is also publisher and editor of Terracotta Typewriter at www.tctype.com.