why don't you be my girlfriend, taiwan?

we have so much in common, but different enough
to be erotic. we speak the same language with distinctly
geographical accents.
i've met girls that remind me of you, here
in North America, but they are so disappointedly
bourgeois. drinking Starbucks,
frequenting fancy bars,
have membership at Club
Monaco, Sunday evening
Korean spa.

no one understands
why i can't get over you, taiwan.
after all these years being apart
your image has become a bit fuzzy
but your smell, the heat, and the subtle
sourness, i can't forget.
i wanna hold your hands like middle schoolers
take a walk in the night market
eat sweets without calculating
calories. i wanna get on the rooftop
watch the moon change its shape and talk about
228. the anti-colonial uprising
against the KMT. it hasn't even been a century
but people already forgot about the White Terror
like it was just another Blockbuster horror movie

you used to tell me about your exes, those
hairy European assholes, treated you like a motel
of their royal voyage. and the patriarchal Japanese,
the control freak, who tried to erase your identity
and threatened to kill you if you cheat.
you swore you were done with the foreigners then
it's not fun to be objectified and exploited, after all,
you just wanted to date a good Chinese boy
but you never expected that when the KMT
arrived in your life, your worst nightmare began
he was eviler than the Japanese
even though he claimed to have the same blood
as you do. he killed your grandpa grandma
held a few corrupted elections and told you
how it was supposed to be good for you.
oh taiwan, it's a classic domestic violence case
but when you ask for help, the Western interventionists
were only interested in your money and your body
you start to think that they are just like your exes
those hairy white capitalist assholes
they are all the same

oh taiwan, why don't you be my girlfriend
you are so much queerer than you think you are
so full of life. i wanna break those walls
you built around yourself from past traumas
i wanna go to couple's therapy with you
take you to a lesbian bar, drink cheap beers
nibble on watermelon seeds
talk about Marxism, and all the radical history
that has been erased. i wanna take you out to every party
and show you off to all my friends
i wanna go home with you.
rebuild. recollect. and revolt.