It’s fitting that Eye to the Telescope had a dragon-themed issue this year (scroll down for my poem, “The Year of the Dragon”), the year of the dragon in the Chinese zodiac. Dragons are so important in Chinese mythology (plus my sister was also born in the year of the dragon), not to mention all the dragons that populate tales from around the world, including some of my favorite novels growing up. So, I’ve always admired dragons in their various roles in human imagination (as evidenced by some of my own stories as well; see “How (Not) to Rescue a Princess” or “A Safe Place to Remember”).
When I approached possibly contributing to this issue, I knew I wanted to include Chinese words and a little wordplay. I also did some research specifically about Chinese dragons. I had multiple drafts that weren’t going anywhere. And then I started thinking about children born in the year of the dragon, and what a child who embodied dragon-like qualities would be like. This inevitably got me thinking about my own daughter (though she was born in the year of the rooster).
I remembered attending a coffee chat with the principal at my daughter’s school. The topic was on emergency drills, including lockdown drills. It struck me the strategies that needed to be taught to children, including my then-five-year-old child, about how to hide from a potential shooter in the classroom, about how to evade a shooter if they were to encounter one while playing on the playground. And it saddened me so much, that this is deemed essential knowledge for children now, that they must practice this scenario.
My prose poem, “The Year of the Dragon,” flowed from there, and it touches on the thought I have once every morning on a school day, that perhaps when I kiss my daughter on the cheek and send her off to school with a hug and an “I love you,” that these will be the last ones. And every afternoon, when I see her smiling face on the other side of the fence when I pick her up, there is a tiny sense of relief in the hidden recesses of my mind.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the issue as well. There is such a variety of not only types of poetry but interpretations of dragons, and each are wonderful in their own ways. I’m honored to be included in this issue, especially as this is my first speculative poem published. Let me know what you think!