in which poetry is a form of exorcism

By Haeun Kim

tick tick tick. the shaman’s mouth steams,
lip naked and hot like a teapot handle. she
rescues the soul of the drowned, disguised
as byeolsang, spirits of another world. under-
water, she swallows the saliva clawing up
her throat to join the saltwater. tick tick tick.
never let it out. she releases the unjustly
dead, souls pouring like liquid. the shaman
speaks, handle lilting and tea trickling from
the spout like tears from her eyes. fingers
twitch around the pot and the water splashes
against the inner skin of her mouth. tick
tick tick. it burns. spirit and flesh and ocean.
slowly, the saliva settles. seeps back down,
voice stumbling back into her lungs, and
she chokes, mouth gaping open like a hooked
fish. she is standing in a puddle of slick sweat,
gasping for breath and voice still hollow.
she remains half-real. the exorcism has failed.

Haeun (Regina) Kim is a student writer from Seoul, South Korea. An alumna of the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship, the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference, and the Sunhouse Summer Writing Mentorship, she has been recognized by Bennington College, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, River of Words, and more. Her writing has been published or is forthcoming in Rust and Moth, Stone Soup, and The Galway Review, among others. An editor at Polyphony Lit, she serves as the founder of MISO-JIEUM. When not writing, she can be found painting in an art studio or struggling through amateur ballet.