Patriarchy
How is a daughter
named? My mother pleads
to the librarian tapping
dewey decimals for the Hanja dictionary;*
a weary oracle of bastards, retards
and girls. Perhaps she pulls
my eyelids; probing
for floaters, films,
blemishes, basic faults
unspeakably loud
when feminine. Branded
woman after woman.
Look, her pain is my pain.
在姸: To be beautiful
As if beauty is moist gauze
to my mother’s glum chafed body,
infertile
for plenty moons. Eventually
milk stripes the melons
of her breasts, freshly pendulous
to suckle by my brother.
Sweet boy lemongrass;
he softens father of fathers
who powders his bum
feels the sticky grip of a tiny fist
and I learn how a son is named.
Such a blessing to us all.
建募: A call to lead
*Hanja dictionary: A Korean dictionary for traditional Chinese characters
Jaeyun Yoo is a Korean-Canadian writer and physician living in Vancouver, BC. Her work has previously been published in “VanChosun.”