I Try To Be The Cowboy Mitski Sings About

I miss you, Korean cowboy
every morning I mount the sunrise
alone
far from cornfields that hold up a 180 sky
and eat plain oats

when its quiet enough
I feel my heartbeat and hear yours
hoof beats traveling somewhere far
until we run into the coast
bring our horses back to the water
and then cross it

Korean cowboy, I think we sing the same songs
or at least the ones you did in myth
(she said you wrote beautiful love letters, I call myself a poet)
(and a romantic)

Korean cowboy, I think I’m becoming you:

I yearn for country roads

I call myself “cowbutch” and feel you in my chuckle
or the way I hold a door open
or pull a chair out
or kiss a woman

I whistle your tune about places I’m almost from
exhale a dying prarie
where you first hoisted me onto a horse
told me how your skull once cracked beneath a hoof
and I remember an open mic under stars
understand the crickets fiddle
and hum them a little story
about a path through the 태백 mountains

By Kris Cho

Biography:

Kris Cho is a poet born and raised in Mid-Missouri. They are currently studying at Brown University where they double concentrate in Ethnic Studies and History. Cho competed on the Brown/RISD College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) team, winning the 2019 semi-finalist title with their teammates. Their work has been featured in Visions Literary Magazine and chapbook 0.2.