It’s Sunday Morning and ‘Lithium’ by Nirvana is Playing
Keys slid between slats, just
out of reach. My nails graze teeth.
Pinch fingers together: no use.
Swill saliva in your mouth. It is
captivity, no matter how soft.
Radio gnaws at the shell of my ear.
I killed you, I’m not gonna crack.
My fingers are sticky with spider-web.
The room rocks; 7AM, distant ache of
sleep behind pulsing red-gray flesh.
An eye in the kitchen window.
Crater-gray, pupils nova. Lashes
stretching long. A blink: mercury
waterfalls down my spine. Legs
of arachnids between wisdom
teeth. That is to say, some days, I live
too much. I’m not gonna crack.
Reach counter-clockwise, under
the sink. White scratches down
my throat. My hand flutters like lit
candle-flame. Throw arms apart,
let myself be wind-blown. Eye
hovers. Come, do what you must.
Kate Choi is a poet living in Seoul, South Korea. Her work is forthcoming or featured in Bending Genres Journal, The Weight Journal, and Eunoia Review. She is an alumna of Kenyon Young Writers Workshop and Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
The Marbled Sigh 