“Must be nice.”

Vancouver, the city of prose and fantasy, has seen its share of lost endings. The stories are told in its streets—adversity. To make it here is to make it with change to spare. The people bustle; wrestle with the daily obstacle course of automatic movements mirroring a perpendicular track of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings. It’s exhausting. The desire for order is pushed away in favour of melted cheese and taco trucks. Should flat pizza be folded in half? Sprinkled with chilis? Garnished with fries? Tell me, are wraps the new handheld salad? Is quinoa on a stick healthy?

My father hasn’t had a vacation in ten years.


Jacqueline Mei Li is the most recent addition to the Mecha Panda Publishing team, bringing with her a desire to stretch the limits of her craft.

Her chapbook, Paper Ghosts, is part of Mecha Panda Publishing’s Chapbooks for Charity series with all proceeds being donated to support Zajac Ranch for Children.