the convict child

By Yuna Kang

PROMPT — Who am I today?

what the kajal smeared eyes see i can’t tell,

the vermillion-lipped’s words will never find the truth,

the “condemned” lies silent.

before the “curiosity” of fools,

before the schooling of fish,

before the rose grew thorns.

maybe she wasn’t a convict?

maybe she wasn’t stupid?

maybe she didn’t want any of this?

a child

a bright child

a happy child

a child that wasn’t just gossip on your tongue?

who

was

she?

when ribs feel absent of the heart’s rhythm

lungs creak with the weight of her tears

she will ask

she will know

but will they ever recognize

the

child

they

broke

?

---

Yuna Kang is a queer, Korean-American writer. She is someone who speaks up for the people silenced by this unjust world through poetry. Yuna has been published in several places, such as Rising Phoenix Press, One Sentence Poems, Sierra Journal, and more. She writes from New York.