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Earth will seduce you...[Y]ou will never be satiated
— Louise Glück |
You promised I would be captivated.
Then ravaged. Then left inconsolable.
I pictured myself naked on a giant
white bed, my black hair a crow’s nest.
None of this came to pass. The earth,
to this day, pays me no mind. I return
its indifference in kind. I see the flowers
you went on about. I see the same moon
and stars. On me, they leave no mark.
I behold a tiny wren, and my heart makes
as if to rise—but then sinks slowly back
down again, like an old dog. How wildly
your passions ballooned and extruded,
so that you’d have been beguiled by
any orb, I believe, bereaved by the closing
of any door. Do not pity me, Louise,
for never having felt the earth’s hands
on me. I am the fortunate one.
Night nears; I miss no erstwhile lover.
I open like a giant white moonflower.
Then ravaged. Then left inconsolable.
I pictured myself naked on a giant
white bed, my black hair a crow’s nest.
None of this came to pass. The earth,
to this day, pays me no mind. I return
its indifference in kind. I see the flowers
you went on about. I see the same moon
and stars. On me, they leave no mark.
I behold a tiny wren, and my heart makes
as if to rise—but then sinks slowly back
down again, like an old dog. How wildly
your passions ballooned and extruded,
so that you’d have been beguiled by
any orb, I believe, bereaved by the closing
of any door. Do not pity me, Louise,
for never having felt the earth’s hands
on me. I am the fortunate one.
Night nears; I miss no erstwhile lover.
I open like a giant white moonflower.
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Claire Jean Kim's poems have been published in or are forthcoming in Rising Phoenix Review, Terrain.org, Tiger Moth Review, Anthropocene, Bracken, The Ilanot Review, Ghost City Review, The Summerset Review, Great River Review, TriQuarterly, Anacapa Review, Slipstream Press, Allium, The Lincoln Review, Arc Poetry, Pinch, The American Poetry Journal, North American Review, The Indianapolis Review, Chiron Review, ONE ART, Radar, Diode, The Southampton Review, Poetry Online, and The Missouri Review. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize (2025), Best of the Net (2025), and Best New Poets (2024).
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