After Frank O’Hara
You do not always know what I am feeling.
It was ten years ago I buried my heart
in the sand by the sea where the tides
could not reach. But just last night
you asked me
if you could touch, and so
I retrieved it, and let you hold it,
a
writhing and
shrieking fruit,
and isn’t it odd? For when I am full
on the thoughts that weep, it is want
for you that blazes it to tinder. Put out your hand,
isn’t it
light, with emptiness? Grainy with sand,
by the sea? And someone you love goes away,
to the scent of pine and says won’t
the sea remind me
of you?
And when walking the shore,
as the pines waft up from the lakeside
my heart remembers the shape of your hands, and I do
not weep.
About the Author
Heeseo (Kay) Lee is a senior attending Korea International School in Seoul. She is a burgeoning young poet and writer who has attended the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio and Kenyon Young Writers’ Workshop, and been recognized by the Scholastics Art and Writing Awards. She is the co-founder and editor in chief of The Zinnia Anthology, which is now accepting submissions for its first issue. When she is not busy writing, she enjoys exploring neurobiological phenomena and performing taekwondo routines.
The Zinnia Anthology: https://thezinniaanthology.myportfolio.com/home https://www.instagram.com/k_h_l_523/ https://www.instagram.com/thezinnia.anthology/
