Dinnertime & you smear gochujang

onto your lips as a reminder that

you are still Korean. Afterwards, you

lose your appetite. Halmeoni shovels

a spoonful of bulgogi into your mouth

& you wonder why she digs her own

grave, her cartilage decaying into

indecipherable hanja characters. How

she used to lure tiger & fox into lullabies.

How rabbit prances across the tattered

moon. How you chase after your lifeline,

chiseling ghost stories into Goryeo

battlegrounds. There is no translation

for every unuttered massacre you never

learned from sixth grade history textbooks.

Instead you learn how to starve yourself,

hunger morphing into admonitions.

Tonight, the moon is bleached in bloodshed

but you will not notice, the ruffles on

your hanbok thrashing under lanternlight.

Biography

Jessica Kim is a poet based in California. Her works have been recognized by the National Poetry Quarterly and Pulitzer Center, and can be found in Glass Poetry Press, Eunoia Review, Minute Mag, Clover & White, and many more. She loves all things historical and sour.