For Q

by Kim Shuck 

 

Pull on a different mountain range 

One leg at a time 

You time travel in poem 

He told me 

I've seen you do it 

We went relic spotting 

More than once 

Through the line up of the '53 Dodgers 

Before his heart was broken 

Before his heart was broken 

Memories never sit as neatly in a prong setting 

As a heart solitaire 

Memories never sit as neatly 

 

Kim Shuck is the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco Emerita. Shuck is solo author of 9 books, co-authored one, edited another ten and has contributed to a vast array of anthologies, journals, curriculum guides, tours, and protests. www.kimshuck.com

To my bystanders

by Deborah Jang 

 

People stand by during attack of elderly Asian woman – Associated Press 

 

Did you catch a whiff of lilac 

on that warm summer eve 

while we gathered at the bus stop, 

each wandering our mind?

 

Out the corner of your eye 

did you flinch, did you see him 

rushing twilight, pushing rudely in?

 

In a flash of recognition, 

did your stomach tell your throat 

what was going down?

 

Did you see my toes curl fetal 

while I lay sideways 

on the concrete stunned?

 

Did you freeze in fear and horror? 

Did you look the other way? 

Did you reach down for your phone 

or was it already in your hand?

 

Were you scared to intervene? 

Did your silence cheer him on?

 

Was it you who kneeled down 

and whispered something kind 

I didn’t understand?

 

Did you see my bruised face on TV? 

Did they say my name? 

Did they even try? 

 

Copyright © Deborah Jang. All rights reserved. 

 

Deborah Jang’s creative practices include assemblage sculpture and poetry, based out of Denver, Colorado and Oceanside, California. Her debut poetry collection is titled Float True (Shanti Arts, 2020). Her new chapbook is Last Will and Best Guesses (Finishing Line Press, 2022). deborahjang.com

LAST WILL AND BEST GUESSES by Deborah Jang

"Deborah Jang knows the terrain of the human heart. In Last Will and Best Guesses she offers an unflinching meditation on mortality and mystery. Jang taps into our shared experiences from the pandemic to racial reckonings, the environmental crises, the plights of refugees. She writes candidly about the workings of her mind, which are the unspeakable workings of ours too. She muses on connections and consciousness that alter and deepen through recent and ongoing trauma and settles into grace. This is a rich, relatable book to pull out again and again." –Terra Trevor is a contributor to 15 books including, Take A Stand: Art Against Hate. 

"Deborah Jang writes through a raging global pandemic, when a “planet [is] spinning off its axis,” gathering strength to face its uncertainties and attendant anti-Asian violence and sentiment. This is a reserve, for herself, and future generations, and I am nourished by her work." –Diana Khoi Nguyen is a poet and multi-media artist whose book, Ghost Of, was a 2018 finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry. 

“Mind bent, nose blown, fingers crossed./Head bowed, going home.” Deborah Jang writes to the rhythm of life while examining death and all its intricacies. This chapbook is an exhale and a deep breath." –Vogue M. Robinson is the author of Vogue 3:16 (2014) and served as Poet Laureate (2017-2019) for Clark County, Nevada.

Last Will and Best Guesses by Deborah Jang, Finishing Line Press