Read Matt Turner’s essay “NO U-TURN—6AMING: Themes and Contexts” HERE.

[EXCLUSIVE] “Eight Poems from 6AMING” by Matt Turner

^{Photograph © Wang Yin}

8:38-3:11

pressed against, side to side
the shelter—hidden, aggrieved
under a constant temperature
little balls of bone and eye
running around, pouring new
cement—efficient, cheap too
sealing the opening, asking:

over the radio, another
rank transmission, transmit
out a call for action, practice
what kind of practice
happens in an old lean-to
but—commence—

9:00-9:06

balanced eras—balconies—merge out
sauntering down by the petrol station
it’s not about the police, of course
vent dead on the wall
the season to go, advance
not drawn from a ha

9:02-9:11

in the photo, two apartment buildings
face each other, an alley between them
in the alley an overgrowth, a cart, a broom
a balcony (empty), platforms, it all
going beyond the photo, into it so far you can’t see

the alley splits off
there are a few shops, tailors
and an exercise area

9:08-9:13

entering, unbolting the door at night, out
little flashlights inside, empty corridors
a switch

every dusty shop chained down
confident—the inner column empty, a vacuum
howl out, maybe echoes down the hallway
and in the car park
a junker formed in the clay of the structure
limescale grey, soul like pewter

9:26-9:31

without the premise it’s only
night, nervous conclusions
that—basement—bear out

sigh into the microphone

one second after another second

dogeared life in the upper corner

9:40-9:46

cool sun-ocean over treeless street
expect! relaxed as
the city is—its archive

a whine off into sky
receding
angles also
only two directions
apex-illusion

walk over, undeserving land
transit
options

two, four

10:57-11:02

water—the lights—blink past again
hole—expands over the area comprehensively
then, ascending, then, plain
only expanding vertically as a level
ground is unvarying—pivot only

sound contrasted with controlled ambience

11:03-11:05

spindles.  They’re all

from inside the rows of seats pressed
into the soft wooden floor,

^{How to cite: Turner, Matt. “NO U-TURN—6AMING: Themes and Contexts.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. 3 Feb. 2026, chajournal.com/2026/02/03/6AMING-poems.}

Matt Turner lives in New York, where he works as a freelance translator and copy editor. He is the author of 6AMING (Antiphony, forthcoming 2026), and four other poetry collections: The Places (BlazeVOX, 2025), Slab Phases (BlazeVOX, 2022), described by Forrest Gander as “like voltaic charges”, Wave 9: Collages (Flying Islands, 2020), and Not Moving (Broken Sleep, 2019), as well as three chapbooks, including the prose memoir of his dog Xiao Chou, Be Your Dog (The Economy Press, 2022). He is also the translator or co-translator of around a dozen books from Chinese, with a focus on figures associated with China’s contemporary avant-garde, notably including work by Yan Jun, Ou Ning, and Wan Xia. His translation of Lu Xun’s modernist Weeds, the first English translation in forty years, was described by Yunte Huang as “a daring leap across the linguistic abyss”. His essays and reviews have appeared in Cha, Bookforum, Heichi, Hyperallergic Weekend, and other journals. Poems from 6AMING have appeared in Pamenar, Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine, and Antiphony, and are forthcoming in ballast, Trampoline, and Action, Spectacle. [All contributions by Matt Turner.]