From Rachel*

By Jen Cheng

She thought I was a “poor, raised by a single mother, low–class,
immigrant nobody” and
even if I was losing Nick
I was out to show her I am a strong, intelligent somebody.
Not only am I a professor who could command my NYU
classroom but I am also a cultured Chinese American
woman in her power smooth as James Bond, staging
a showdown with Mah Jong, and I proved to
Mrs. Crazy Rich, that she was so wrong.
Just because they are the super
wealthy did not mean that I was
going to submit to her
especially since
I am the domme of game theory.

*my imagined inner landscape of Rachel Chu
from the film, “Crazy Rich Asians” from my
chapbook, Braided Spaces (2023)