Poem of the Week: Franny Choi

   

Chinky 

 

I. LETTER FROM THE WORLD TO MY EYES

How'd you get so slice?

Razor pinch all flat-like? All puff

& sting? What's your allergy?

Hi bucktooth cartoon. Hi war

paddy. Hi refugee. Spit. Take it.

Tight lids. Dagger flick. Stick

shift. Tease. Lemon juice.

Wide screen. We all scream.

What are you mad? Seething in

the corner? Cat squeezing

fish spine from back? What are you

blind-eye? What are you cock-

roach? What are you gleaming

all teeth no iris at the sun's grin?

II. LETTER FROM MY EYES TO THE WORLD

Act like you've

never seen a pinhole

camera. I drink every

every. Condense light

into its smallest body.

-Franny Choi   

Use by permission.

Originally published in Radius.  

Franny Choi's poetry explores the collisions of identity, the volatility of language, and the haunting relationship between the artist's body and her body of work. She has been a finalist at the National Poetry Slam, the Individual World Poetry Slam, and the Women of the World Poetry Slam. A Pushcart Prize Nominee, her literary work has appeared in Fringe, Apogee, Tandem, Angry Asian Man, and others. Her play Mask Dances, which told the story of the 1980 Kwangju Uprising, was staged for the 2011 Writing is Live Festival. She co-coordinates ProvSlam Youth, a program for young writers in Providence, RI. Her first collection of poetry, Floating, Brilliant, Gone, is forthcoming from Write Bloody Publishing in March 2014. 

 

Please feel free to forward Split This Rock Poem of the Week widely. We just ask you to include all of the information in this email, including this request. Thanks!

If you are interested in reading past poems of the week, feel free to visit the blog archive.