Places by Willyce Kim (Lesbian poet)
Places
by Willyce Kim
I dreamed you.
I waited 45 years for you
to find me.
I have nothing to give you
But these places
I have been.
I own no home.
I carry my life with me
In boxes
on my back.
Sometimes when you look
at me
I want to show you
Everything.
How the stars turn in the
night sky over Santa Fe.
How snow falls like filigree
through a blue moon.
How a slice
of sweet Hawaiian
Mountain apple
between your lips
calls forth the
forest
it was plucked from.
I want to take you places
You have never been.
With anyone.
I want to tell you everything.
How once when I was 26
I drove around and around
searching for other Lesbians.
I want to show you every scar.
I want to tell you about
Anita and Parker.
How death came for them
In the name of cancer
claiming parts of me
you can never have.
I want to whisper
Everything.
As you stall into my
shoulder
Incense rising,
dusky room.
ABOUT THE POET
Willyce Kim is a queer Korean American poet and is generally recognized as the first openly lesbian Asian American to be published in the United States. She is the author, among other titles, of Dancer Dawkins and the California Kid, to be reissued this year by the University of Washington Press. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. The poem "For Willyce " also published in my blog today, was written by Pat Parker, who in turn is named here.
by Willyce Kim
I dreamed you.
I waited 45 years for you
to find me.
I have nothing to give you
But these places
I have been.
I own no home.
I carry my life with me
In boxes
on my back.
Sometimes when you look
at me
I want to show you
Everything.
How the stars turn in the
night sky over Santa Fe.
How snow falls like filigree
through a blue moon.
How a slice
of sweet Hawaiian
Mountain apple
between your lips
calls forth the
forest
it was plucked from.
I want to take you places
You have never been.
With anyone.
I want to tell you everything.
How once when I was 26
I drove around and around
searching for other Lesbians.
I want to show you every scar.
I want to tell you about
Anita and Parker.
How death came for them
In the name of cancer
claiming parts of me
you can never have.
I want to whisper
Everything.
As you stall into my
shoulder
Incense rising,
dusky room.
ABOUT THE POET
Willyce Kim is a queer Korean American poet and is generally recognized as the first openly lesbian Asian American to be published in the United States. She is the author, among other titles, of Dancer Dawkins and the California Kid, to be reissued this year by the University of Washington Press. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. The poem "For Willyce " also published in my blog today, was written by Pat Parker, who in turn is named here.
3 月 前