“Desiccations” by Yuna Kang

Desiccations 

The world was your oyster, little one, and I grasped that beating 
heart (red heart, red heart, red heart), sticky and slick with oystergoo

p, i grasped your pearl (irregular; baroque), broke it into pieces in my pink-
handled palms. and then i cast the remaining pieces (glints of silvery
hue) before the pigs, pigs before swine, where they ran into open sea waters and drowned. and then i cooked the pigs until they were tender and dry, (emerald
veins piercing out of pinky pores), and i hung them by their legs, and i grilled slices of pork belly with leeks and i served them to your foremothers. Grandmothers
complained, they wanted 물고기 with plain salt and radish blocks, they
knew something was

wrong. but i told them no, keep on eating, and we filled our bellies with stomach
rot. bubbling and boiling and frothing broths in clay pots 
where the mussel shells creak open like a heart, the sound of food is enticing
enough. i did not feed you, little ones, i took from your skull cavities and blinded
your ears. smoke fills the entrance of this world; enough. to you, i have done
enough. 

Yuna Kang

Yuna Kang is a queer, Korean-American writer based in northern California. She has been published in journals such as Strange Horizons, Sinister Wisdom, and many more. They were also nominated for the 2022 Dwarf Stars Award. Their website link is: https://kangyunak.wixsite.com/website

Headshot: Yuna Kang

Photo Credit: Staff