WINNER OF THE SITA MARTIN PRIZE: XINYUE HUANG
Occasion #1
there is a hole in my chest
through which we drive our car
to the other side of the world
to see the mountains
the rearview mirror claims
objects in mirror are
closer than they appear
but isn’t appearance all we have
a sole name given to this place
the gaunt frame of the many mountains
still the snow surrenders steadily
into the cleavage of hardness
witnessing, unspeaking, prone
i imagine a deep conversation
to be had there
but not enough air
to carry the atoms of our speech
clouds below our feet
need a sonnet sung about nature
so i whisper some nonsense
in that regard
do you know there are ninety places
named something of the angel
do you know there are thirty places
in this world named the end of the world
do you know i have nothing more to say
because there is already a line
in a Ming dynasty essay
万山载雪，明月薄之，月不能光，雪皆呆白
that describes exactly now
how the moonlight’s blade pares down the weight
of snow transported on the thousand mountains
how the snow lies dully white
as if struck dumb
you ask me if we are there yet
i open my mouth but make no sound
i am wearing full makeup
when we hike through the woods
a fawn meanders past my yen
and grazes the pine
AUDIO
About this Poem: This series of “occasion” poems was among the first poems I wrote for my manuscript titled Occasions of Origin. The idea for this manuscript came to me as I began traveling extensively across the US for fellowships and residencies. As I found myself disoriented, displaced, and often incurably lost and isolated in rural America, I kept returning to a story my mother once told me: she has no official record of her city of birth. She was born in one of the Bingtuan settlements in Xinjiang, whose location was never accurately marked on a map. This project is an attempt to reckon, secondhand, with my mother’s loss of origin while navigating my own sense of disorientation in the country I now call home. The “Occasion #1” poem specifically is me reminiscing about my time in Port Angeles during the Gentle House Fellowship generously offered to me by Tupelo Press. Summer in the Pacific North West is the BEST!!
Xinyue Huang’s poems “Occasion #1,” “Occasion #3,” and “Occasion #4” were selected as the winner of the Sita Martin Prize for Shō No. 9.
Read about the Sita Martin Prize for emerging poets here, or view past recipients and honorees.
Born in Shanghai and currently based in New York City, Xinyue Huang writes and publishes in both English and Chinese. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Georgia Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Bellevue Literary Review, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the 2023 Lorraine Williams Poetry Prize, the 2025 Kenyon Review Poetry Prize, and the 2026 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. Her work has been supported by the New York University Creative Writing Program, Tupelo Press, Vermont Studio Center, and Fine Arts Work Center. In fall 2026, she will be joining Bucknell University as the Philip Roth Resident.
