The Morning Walk I wander the streets in late mornings, windblown hair brushing against my face, jagged at the ends, as if torn by a shark's teeth. The eyes inside the booming cars pierce my thin skin. I wear a sweater, but it doesn't protect me from their glares. I'm a pedestrian. My slow steps and daydreams get in the way of a world that needs to keep moving, keep its children fed. Escaping the Voices The night has fallen, turning the sky deep purple, the color of bruises. Outside the glass door of the place I call home, the noises, and the witchy voices on the intercom, are drowned out. Some men have tried to quell my anxiety. We've gone browsing in the shoe store, the phone company, to distract me from fears. But I've come back again and again, to hardened criminals with hard hearts. I've held them to my chest, let them chew me to bits. I've gotten used to this frozen sidewalk, where I've learned to ground my feet. The following Poem inspired by Marilyn Monroe's poetry Life- I have been a rose, sometimes wishing to be the bee buried in its petals, the one who is intoxicated by another's nectar. But life- I have bloomed in your very dance halls, twirled under the strobe light in satin and chiffon dresses, red-lipped and silver-footed. I've looked into the mirror long and hard, my flushed cheeks yellowing under the bathroom lamp, the years stolen from my face. Bio: Jackie Chou writes poems about romantic love, friendship, coming of age, grief over losses, mental illness, the creative process, and more. Some of her works are published by Fevers of the Mind Press. Her new poetry collection, Finding My Heart in Love and Loss, published by cyberwit.net, is available on Amazon.
Fevers of the Mind 