Kim Marshall
Every Human Heart
"A black mirror, made to reflect
everything about itself
that humanity will not confront."
— Dream from Sandman by Neil Gaiman
everything about itself
that humanity will not confront."
— Dream from Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Most elegant, most decorative Corinthian,
slipped from the pale hand as masterpiece.
His eyes were the votive offering,
reflecting nothing but slick, jagged hunger.
Horror on the page is a four-color process.
Corinthian, Morpheus,
why white, why eyes, why rot, why dream
keys which can't turn locks on closet doors.
Lifetime within endless lifetime,
had I created with his same illness?
nor he chosen to be born.
We two had decided somewhere, somehow, some time
we didn't want to be unmade
either.
The Myth of Wonder
Each woman's story changes in the hands of
men. The lie in my origins was only
in the retelling. Easier to believe
I'd been born of Zeus
than raised from sand by my mother's prayer, her strength
to love me with a name. In your world, I learned
a woman's worth — to be super only if
she is a wonder.
I then understood the mantel of my new
name, a title cast as long as the shadow
of your hiss, stories retold until we were
all islands, drowning.
In order to be a hero, you made for
me a father, sprung me from his crown, but I
did not need his strength to learn my own. Mother
taught me how to swim.
Each woman's story changes in the hands of
men. The lie in my origins was only
in the retelling. Easier to believe
I'd been born of Zeus
than raised from sand by my mother's prayer, her strength
to love me with a name. In your world, I learned
a woman's worth — to be super only if
she is a wonder.
I then understood the mantel of my new
name, a title cast as long as the shadow
of your hiss, stories retold until we were
all islands, drowning.
In order to be a hero, you made for
me a father, sprung me from his crown, but I
did not need his strength to learn my own. Mother
taught me how to swim.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim Marshall is a biracial poet who considers herself from a little bit of everywhere. (It seems to add mystery to her origin story.) She is a Cave Canem fellow and currently resides in DC. Her work has appeared in Multiverse and After Ferguson: In Solidarity.