After the Dinner Party

Adrienne Su

Dropping napkins, corks, and non-compostables

into the trash, I see that friends have mistaken

my everyday chopsticks for disposables,

helpfully discarding them alongside inedibles:

pork bones, shrimp shells, bitter melon.

Among napkins and corks, they do look compostable:

off-white, wooden, warped from continual

washing — no lacquer, no ornament. But anyone

who thinks these chopsticks are disposable

doesn’t live with chopsticks in the comfortable

way of a favorite robe, oversized, a bit broken.

Thin paper napkins, plastic forks, and non-compostable

takeout boxes constitute the chopstick’s natural

habitat to many I hold dear. With family or alone,

I’ll maintain that chopsticks aren’t disposable,

but if I can make peace with the loss of utensils

when breaking bao with guests, I’ll be one of them,

not digging in the napkins and corks. Compostable

chopsticks are the answer: everyday and disposable.