JESSICA KIM

00:00
                 with lines from BTS

These nights, I am already too late. I pilfer
into my own house to find the radio playing

K-pop. The beat slips away little by little
and I keep forgetting those familiar lyrics.

Really, there is nothing worth remembering.
Just taking, then forgetting. I was taught that

thievery is a transaction in disguise. Pick-
pocketing each second at a time and shoving

it into the fingertips of the mantel clock.
Then, I fold each finger in prayer. The surprise

that even thieves know how to be righteous.
When the hands mutate themselves in synchrony,

the world holds its breath for a little while.
Waiting for the prayer to translate into closure.

The song in the background turns sombre
and the night sinister. There is no room for

a new beginning. An exchange undone.
While the clock resets, I am running in echoes.

Jessica Kim is a disabled poet from California. A two-time 2021 Pushcart nominee, her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Wildness Journal, Cosmonauts Avenue, Grain Magazine, Longleaf Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, and more. She is the founding editor of The Lumiere Review. Find her at www.jessicakimwrites.weebly.com and @jessiicable on twitter and instagram.