KENDALL RHEE/ “FRAGMENTS”

Featured poem from our first issue, “Blue Lounge.”

Fragments 

When mother birthed an ocean, 

It knelt at her knees like a name. 

Letters aching for salvation, 

reaching like a syllable misunderstood. Were

you a hymn to be spoken for? Like how

yesterday, a man dented his identity in denial.

Bruised his mouth with the con of a gun.

They did not know what it was like, for the

sky to purple his hands into rust. Someday,

they will understand that his falling

was in stained dresses– That A God was blurred in

his drowning. Left to wonder how quickly

the brushstroke of an hour could fall 

unaccepted. 

italicization translation: 

an ocean knelt aching 

like a hymn dented with a gun 

is rust in stained dresses– 

a god left unaccepted.

Kendall Rhee is a Korean-American poet from California. She is a Sophomore at Cate School and a recent graduate of the Iowa Young Writers Program. She is a 2021 California Arts Scholar in Creative Writing and her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In her free time, Kendall loves reading books, going to the beach, and watching k-dramas. You can find her on instagram: @kendallrhee