Frances Chung was born and raised in Chinatown, New York. She received her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Smith College and taught math in New York City public schools. Chung published her poetry in numerous anthologies and journals and was awarded fellowships from the New York Times Company Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts. She died in 1990 at the age of forty, leaving behind two manuscripts that were posthumously compiled and published as Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple: The Poems of Frances Chung (Wesleyan University Press, 2000).
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occasions
Untitled [Sitting across from me on the bus a Chinese]
Sitting across from me on the bus a Chinese couple and their young son. The wife is not accustomed to riding in automobiles so she feels nauseous and uncomfortable. She cups her hand over her mouth as if to vomit. Finally, she opens her pocketbook to fish out pieces of coconut candy, offering one to her husband and son wordlessly. They are headed for Chinatown with shopping bags of groceries. They do not speak much to each other and when they do, they speak a different dialect. The scene is reenacted endless times with the stage sometimes shifting to the subway.
From Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple by Frances Chung, published by Wesleyan University Press, 2000.
From Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple by Frances Chung, published by Wesleyan University Press, 2000.
Frances Chung
Frances Chung was born and raised in Chinatown, New York. Her manuscripts were posthumously compiled and published as Crazy Melon and Chinese Apple: The Poems of Frances Chung (Wesleyan University Press, 2000).