As we wait for our summer issue 56.4 to arrive from the printer, we’d like to share a sneak peek from its pages. “How to Live” by Doretta Lau is forthcoming in the Summer issue 56.4 of PRISM, and we’re so pleased to also share it with you here.

(Psst! Doretta Lau also has another amazing poem, “Ceremony,” in the print issue, so be sure to pick up a copy of the issue! If you don’t have a subscription to PRISM, you can purchase one today at our web store!)

How to Live

Doretta Lau

The witches gave me clear instructions on how to live:

        spend time with family

        be in nature

        cleanse with salt water, with sage

        be careful with money

        spare no expense on family

        give to charity

        protect with black tourmaline and black onyx

        there is no need for diamonds

        I look back and wonder if these were steps for a spell, one

        that ensured I’d be home for my father’s death.

        Everything they asked of me brought me to the place

        where I had my hands above Dad’s heart, applying

        just enough pressure to keep his blood

        flowing without breaking his ribs, without piercing muscle and flesh.

Photo by Artsy Vibes on Unsplash

Doretta Lau is the author of the short story collection How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun? (Nightwood Editions, 2014). The book was shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award, longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and was named by The Atlantic as one of the best books of 2014. In 2013, she was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust of Canada / McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. She has written on arts and culture for Artforum International, South China Morning Post, The Wall Street Journal Asia, ArtReview, and LEAP. She completed an MFA in Writing at Columbia University. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Day One, Event, Grain Magazine, Prairie Fire, Ricepaper, Room Magazine, sub-TERRAIN, and Zen Monster. She splits her time between Vancouver and Hong Kong, where she is at work on a novel and a screenplay. She is a co-founder of the humour and culture website The Unpublishables. She is currently working on a comic workplace novel called We are Underlings and developing projects for film and television. Doretta’s poems, “How to Live” and “Ceremony” appear in our summer issue 56.4.