Pitch

An alien from space disguised as an American
Actor goes to live in a country where most
Won’t know who the actor is,
Being a scout, not an advance vanguard
Of an expeditionary force prepping for planetary
Invasion, she is a stellar charterer, who happened
Upon a star far from her home. My visitor, I am
Thinking, is familiar with lonelines, because I,
Only human, write her human. I don’t know
Where her last star is, how far or how different
It is because I’ve never left mine.
And in a country somewhere, an alien wears
The face of an actor I love, going about her
Routine where everyone knows her.
She promotes a movie in which she kills aliens
And wins another one for us.
There are things we must do to make a living.


︎Add “Pitch” to cart

Jack Jung is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow. His translations of Korean poet Yi Sang’s poetry and prose are published in Yi Sang: Selected Works by Wave Books. He currently teaches at Davidson College.