The Social Distancing Issue: Poetry Roundup

Each issue we feature pieces by Asian womxn around the world. Here are this issue's poems:

Medicine by Helen Liu

There was never anything to fix;

it wasn’t my body that was sick.

The pain I felt inside

was just another scar to hide.

Your medicine in my veins

wasn’t dopamine in my brain.

Sacrificing mental health

in the name of material wealth.

beyond distance by Kyra Butt

my eyes are half open,

but I am content

in my sugar-spun bubble,

observed by potted plants,

and I realise that 

life isn’t on hold,

that we flower even 

when everything around us

seems stagnant;

look here -

an elderly woman just made

a birthday wish

over eight frosted candles,

hands clasped together in excitement.

and across the river bend -

an estranged father just whispered

“I’m proud of you”

to the son he hasn’t seen

in two decades,

and just down the road -

a chuckling toddler just learned

How to walk

With their two tiny feet.

and me -

an ivory roof shelters my heavy head,

my mother’s cooking fills my stomach,

and with these hands,

I still write.

boxy cars speed by

with places to be,

but I am here

with all that I need.

We Have the Sky by Aria Mallare

And yet,

In all of this,

The sun rises 

The stars shine 

The moon beams 

In all of this,

The sun still gets up every morning,

Wrapping her children in her warmth 

The stars travel through time, 

Smiling sweetly in each window 

The moon stands guard every night, 

Protecting a sleepy world from the shadows

In all of this,

Light continues to emerge from the darkness 

So look up and to tomorrow 

Because regardless of all of this,

You will always have the sky