Nomenclature

By Maria S. Picone/수영

giyeok sound begins & ends drift over ocean
수영 little piece of struggle
they gave you name a boat to drift on untamed water all that carried you
good bones good bones good bones good bones
 
대양 little piece of wave
your father called his fishing craft for you tribute to what is caught you
don’t show bones don’t show body don’t show bother don’t show: burden
안녕 they said back to inferior floating you
 
convenient you little vessel stocked & loaded 외상
coming going becoming belonging & all your names
a swimming. a nemo. a keep, keep, keep, keep, keep, 숨김
김수 little piece of name oar that rocks you wave beneath you

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Maria S. Picone/수영 is a queer Korean American adoptee who won Cream City Review’s 2020 Summer Poetry Prize. Her debut chapbook, Sky Sea Edict, will be published in late 2022. She has been published in Tahoma Literary Review, The Seventh Wave, Fractured Lit and more, including Best Small Fictions 2021. Her work has been supported by The Juniper Institute, Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, GrubStreet, Kenyon Review, and Tin House. She is managing editor at Chestnut Review and The Petigru Review, poetry editor at Hanok Review and associate editor at Uncharted Mag. Find out more at mariaspicone.com, Twitter @mspicone.