i s s u e: 1
// p o e t r y
By Any Other Name
by Stephen K. Kim
On my first day of college,
at a varnished oaken table,
in sturdy slatback chairs,
we went around listing
name, hometown, some fun fact.
When my turn came,
I gave the name Clive,
unmooring myself
from the name my parents gave me.
I imagined gliding
through first dates, interviews
doctor’s visits without
the wrong kind of attention.
Frustration from thwarted desires
to “get it right.” A well-meaning
“I love ethnic names, what’s yours mean?”
Years later, sitting on a windowsill,
greeting the dawn of graduation day
in last night’s clothes,
I recalled that scene from Spirited Away,
when Chihiro is trapped
in that fantastic bathhouse
because a witch
tears her name asunder,
rending 千 from 尋,
so she forgets who she is.
I thought back to my brash decision,
sitting straight-backed at that oaken table,
and I wondered if like Chihiro
I had forgotten myself,
so I could never remember
who and what I lost.
about the author // Stephen K. Kim
| Stephen K. Kim (he/him) is a queer Korean American writer and college educator in upstate New York. He enjoys spending time with his husband and his cat. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Ghost City Review, Fifth Wheel Press, Thimble, and elsewhere. He can be found online @skimperil. |
X & Instagram: @skimperil
wildscape. literary journal 