Travis Lau

PERSPECTIVAL

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Legal pad: // crammed beneath // a stressed // table leg // and the heavy // strokes of // what remains // forever crossed // and dotted. // The mug topples // and the colors, // partially separated, // blend briefly // in the interim, // the hanging space // where milk // and arabica are // forced back // into precarious // proximity // without the // possibility // of my pleasure.

Uneven floor: // I sit with // a slight lean, // a (disad-)vantage // point of the // park square // askew with the // day's burden of // grey and too // many footfalls that // do not breathe. // The photo // I snap // needs straightening, // but the tilt // does not break // the game like // a pinball machine; // instead, there are // lines that // recede // and come to // the startling fore.

Travis Chi Wing Lau is a doctoral candidate at the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British fiction, the history of medicine, and disability studies. Outside of the university, he maintains a daily blog featuring primarily poetry and short fiction. He is currently working on a short chapbook, as well as a forthcoming memoir about his queerness and disability.