by Chae Yeon Kim

her fingers were frostbitten
so was her face
they had been walking for twenty days
across the winter desert

not from freedom
      criminal
not towards freedom
      finding refuge

she crossed into a new place
nothing to mark it but a
line
in the sand

could not go on any longer
fission
or whatever is the opposite
of fusion

so unnatural
insignificant
a scab
grating and bleeding

it
not her

About the Author
Chae Yeon Kim is a queer, transnational Korean American writer, poet, and peacebuilder. She is interested in all things intersectional and intergenerational, writing to break down borders. She draws her inspiration from oral histories and stories previously untold. Contact Chae Yeon Kim: chaeyeonkim.com or @alter_archive.