Just One Thing with M. Ezra Zhang

M. Ezra Zhang’s poem “Self-Portrait as the Head of a Frozen Mouse” gives us mirroring, disappearing hands, unspoken things lodged in the throat. Here they share just one thing about the piece:

“I have a pet corn snake named Kinship. I also have a lot of pet owner anxiety, which used to manifest in my dreams. This image of Kinship regurgitating the head of a frozen mouse first appeared to me in a dream around the time that my relationship with my then-partner was going downhill; the combination of these things resulted in what is essentially a preemptive breakup poem.”

M. Ezra Zhang sits in a chair in the foreground., smiling slightly. In the background, horses gallop into orange sunset — Photo credit: Matt Goias

SLMDecember 7, 2023blog, just one thing