YELLOWGURL POEM AUG09
by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
i know the bump on your nose won’t go away,
that fine knot of hooked bone, a snag against
the skyline, like a pebble beneath the foot
i know your descriptions are incomplete.
the flashing of fists and alley and brick,
your ability to wriggle from the grasp of
piston-pounding, jack-hammering bodies —
boys who’ve traded life for steel, the cool
barrel of guns against their pelvises, weights
thrown onto the living room couch
i know your fires are understated, your passions,
your victories, the violence you have stripped of
color and hue, no words attach to these memories,
they are light and free to move – they don’t scare you.
your eyes take on different casts of fullness:
one moment opaque and the next crackling
like sun on the hudson, the glint of the
unspoken lighting up your entire face
with all that you have overcome
Kelly Tsai’s website is http://www.yellowgurl.com/