stranger alchemies

the both of us animal-soft in
a derelict parking lot. 5:14am & the
radio spits static. coming down at the end of
the night, it’s an afterparty, a
sickening sort of voyeurism. it’s all
the scenes from those coming-of-age
movies where the camera pans
out & afterwards you understand everything
beyond comprehension.
but now it’s just us & the smallest god
we know—nothing to see here, move
along. move along.
the world spins on its lithium-colored
axis. the storytellers all agree,
everything is the same story once
you get to the rotten core, the apple
-sliced desire of it. & in the afterglow,
history forgives many things. swallow the city
open-mouthed, dear. the fact of the
matter is, any one of us can be unraveled
now. we
noisemake. we search for light.
all we are asking for is to uncover the
truth, to leave a handprint on the
wall that matters, to say, i exist
i exist i exist
before the camera catches
up to us.

By Eunice Kim

Biography:

Eunice Kim is a Korean-American writer living in Seoul. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Polyphony, The Heritage Review, Vagabond City Lit, and more. She currently works as a staff reader for The Adroit Journal and a volunteer writer for Her Culture.