My body is an entire ____________________ wrangled into a jar.
[body of water]
If I could only find its opening, I swear I would spill everywhere,
drown entire libraries in the wake of all my wet.
My legs are a history of ________________________.
[something a fish does]
They ______________________ed through seven upstream wars
[something a fish does]
to get here. Run is my middle name.
My Korean name is _____________________________.
[verb of struggle]
It means my family history is a library of war.
It means my family tree is a ________________________ vine
[word to describe a lover’s body]
galloping toward the canopy. Or my family tree
is a city of fungus ________________________ing beneath the soil.
[verb of struggle]
Or it is _______________________ exploding above the canopy
[element from the periodic table]
on high holy days. I swear I would spill everywhere.
My body is a history of ___________________ wrangled into a/the ___________________.
[verb of struggle] [body of water]
So much more than ______________________.
[lover’s body]
So much more than wet. Beneath the soil,
my heart is _____________________ing quietly,
[something a fish does]
a _________________________ kicking in its sleep.
[four-legged beast]
On the days that I lose track of my body,
when I find it too often in the mouths of kaleidoscope-eyed strangers,
I press my ear to the ground, and hear my _____________________ heart whisper:
[four-legged beast]
“________________________________________________” x3
[something you want to say to yourself]
FRANNY CHOI lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she has spent the last three years working in youth, education, and grassroots organizing spaces. Her first collection of poems, Floating, Brilliant, Gone, was released on Write Bloody Publishing in March 2014. Her poems and stories have appeared in Poetry, PANK, Fringe, Folio, Apogee, and others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she has been a finalist at the National Poetry Slam, the Individual World Poetry Slam, and the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Through Project V.O.I.C.E. and the Providence Poetry Slam, Franny teaches creative writing in classrooms and community centers in her city and across the country.
