Illustration by Mimi Mutesa @mimimutesa
Moved around from place to place
I’m assuming I’m not welcome
Not here nor there nor anywhere
Tears springing from my eyes like youthful tulips in the early spring
Maybe even flowers spring with pain, growing pains
Happen to everyone, I’ve noticed.
Wells form, I’ve discovered two
Naturally saltwater wells on my
Visage and where do they go?
Down the small hill and the
Mountain then the valley
And finally into my mouth
Where the saltiness grows
To be normal and stalactites
Grow up from the ground—
Not with the Koreans
Not with the Americans
But where do I really belong?
Where will I be free
To sing this unique song—
I call my own. My only
Heirloom I will pass
Down to my children and
I know (I will make sure) that it will last
The story of a young girl
In the freezing cold choir room
Trying to eat honeyed rice cakes without being noticed
And made fun of being too fat for
The Asian standard.
Don’t make fun of me!
You are worth far less than the gravel I trample, under my feet.
Louise Kim is a student at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, NY. Their writing has been published in a number of publications, including Et Cetera Magazine, Girls Right the World, and Oneul Zine, and is forthcoming in Ricochet Review. Her work has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. In their free time, Louise enjoys practicing archery, studying French, developing their spiritual practice, and reading and writing.