She’s the only one who hears me sing

Emily Lee Luan

She’s the only one who hears me sing.

The only one who hears me singing, she.

Only one, who hears my song?

One hears me sing—no, she’s the only.

Who, me? I’m my only.

Hear me sing her only song.

I sing, and there’s my only, hearing.

Sing her to only.

Sing me into hearing

I who is my only.

Hearing why my onlys, she sings.

Whose hearing ones to singing?

One, the only one,

Only my only sing me.

The she who sings, hearing all the way to one.

She’s singing, in it I hear my onely.

Emily Lee Luan is the author of 回 / Return, a winner of the Nightboat Poetry Prize, and I Watch the Boughs, selected for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. She holds an MFA from Rutgers University–Newark.
Originally published:
April 19, 2023

Featured

Searching for Seamus Heaney

What I found when I resolved to read him
Elisa Gonzalez

What Happened When I Began to Speak Welsh

By learning my family's language, I hoped to join their conversation.
Dan Fox

When Does a Divorce Begin?

Most people think of it as failure. For me it was an achievement.
Anahid Nersessian

A Literary Gift in Print

Give a year of The Yale Review—four beautifully printed issues featuring new literature and ideas.
Give a Subscription