Intrusive Thoughts

I live, I live

in an icebox: its floor, its ceiling
is prettied with killer whale teeth,
neatly lined like the finest numbing crystalline.
Its daily grind grinds me.

You observers conclude I am whole
but internally, I am bifurcating:
separating to the point where I shall never alleviate.
A branch still attached could never be a tree.

Commence the dreamscape, draw the curtains:
‘Tis eternal midnight here in this damned refugee camp.
The Jap? The islander? spreads like she is melting
butter. The foreigner, the alien plays dead

on the bed. Don’t act the role: embody the character.
Commence the meal! Blow her brains out.
‘Tis now a showerhead fully
rampaged, rebelling against

my life, my life.

By Sammi Yamashiro

Biography:

Sammi Yamashiro began her poetry journey in high school and has had multiple poems featured in several anthologies (Train River Publishing, Sunday Mornings at the River). She self-published her poetry collection “The Peach Pit Mask”, which reached #1 in New Releases in Asian American Poetry on Amazon Kindle. You can read her writing on Instagram (@sammiyamashiro) or visit her website (sammiyamashiro.com) to find more of her work.