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Elane Kim

Chromatography

Never look for your reflection in the spine
            of the city. You will find nothing but blood
in its sewers & rusted mouths in its graves.
            A body measures how much it has bled
by how well it remembers the rupture. I can't
            ​tell you how a body recovers, or what it buries
to forget. I can only show you the cracks
            in my mother’s hands: the way they have
cleaved into her skin & burrowed. This is how
            ​the city whittles skin into skeleton under
the cover of smog. This is how you forget:
            first a body, then its bones. Someday
you may realize that a mother’s curved spine
            is the home this city never gave you.
That you have been mistaking mirrors
            ​for homes all this time. That your
mouth is waiting under bedrock, buried.

Biography

​Elane Kim (she/her) is a high school student based in California. The editor-in-chief of Gaia Lit, she enjoys chemistry and rainy days. Her writing has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and can be found in Rust + Moth and Vagabond City Lit, among others. She is very happy to meet you!
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    • Issue 49
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    • Issue 35
    • Issue 34
    • Issue 33
    • Issue 32
    • Issue 31
    • Issue 30
    • Issue 29
    • Issue 28
    • Issue 27
    • Issue 26
    • Issue 25
    • Issue 24
    • Issue 23
    • Issue 22
    • Issue 21
    • Issue 20
    • Issue 19
    • Issue 18
    • Serenity
    • Issue 17
    • The Audio Room
    • Issue 16
    • Issue 15
    • Issue 14
    • Play It Again
    • Issue 13
    • Issue 12
    • Issue 11
    • Issue 10
    • Issue 9
    • Issue 8
    • Issue 7
    • Issue 6
    • Hand to Mouth
    • Issue 5
    • Issue 4
    • Issue 3
    • Issue 2
    • Issue 1
  • Submissions