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The Imperfect Present

Rosa Rosa by Yoonji Huh (South Korea)

9/30/2023

 
​Artist's Description: 
This piece is a Venus sculpture drawn on a vibrant hot pink background. 
The tropical leaves around her seem to almost cover her body, but it never fully shadows. 
Nudes have always been the most intriguing object for me to draw, 
because I think they are the most beautiful thing that could exist on earth. 

We all should never feel shameful about our curves, and our curved body; 
the symbol of femininity. And not only women, but each individuals must love their physical
specialties. We should all be proud of our natural body.
​

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Wild flowers by Yoonji Huh (South Korea)

9/30/2023

 
Artist's Description: 
This piece is a depiction of wildflowers that do not exist in reality. The unreal flowers were
used to not to limit the imagination of the audience. 
Vivid flowers are patternlessly
arranged on a dark navy colour for a contrast. 
I wanted to tell that all the brightness of the
world can be itself only if the darkness is there, in a more dramatic way. It may be seen
as quite depressing and disturbing, but just as how brightness depends on the darkness,
it reveals that dark still coexist with the light. 
While it is very common to only think of just
one single thing, and consider everything else as extra complexity of the whole picture, I wanted
to find the tranquility under complications.
​​

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Maze by Kushal Poddar (India, 46)

9/30/2023

 
The day I name the way
a maze
it begins to own a bit of me,
and I lay
my claim on a patch of its length
that circles
an overgrown shrub, the time-eaten wall
and a shameless body of muddy water.

At one point
I feel the desire to leave the maze
drying, dying.
From hollow in my abdomen
an eclipse of moths swirl out.

Read More

Chamomile Tea/miscarried baby* by Fizza Abbas (Pakistan, 29)

9/30/2023

 
Trigger Warning: Blood and gore depiction

Ingredients/parts
  • Honey/Bitter colostrum
  • Apple slices - 2/blood spots - my heart!
  • Boiled water - 2 cups/dry fluid - my child!
  • Chamomile flowers - 2 tbsps/wilting rose - traces of red

Directions
​
Take out all the ingredients and place them on your counter./I'm lying naked in a labour room.
Soak the flowers with cold water./Waiting for my flower to be soaked. Add hot, boiling water to
the teapot./I tell them water's boiling, baby, alive. Add apple slices into the pot and chop them
with a wooden spoon./They remove my silverskin from ribs. Whisk in the chamomile flowers
and 2 cups of boiling water./I can't see anymore, my ba-, do-, ple, ali VVVEEE, pls. Let it steep
for 2-3 minutes./They say it's my new life. Pour the tea into two cups and enjoy it with
honey./Little do they know, it's the first living funeral of the dead

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YOUR CAR by Willow (South Africa, 31)

9/30/2023

 
If ever a symbol of us existed,
It would be your car
A car made of cursory confessions
Stored under seats
Pinky promises stretched across our chests,
Become the only seat belts we'll ever need
The day's insecurities tossed in the back
(you think we'd be more careful with our worst fears)

Fastest routes are forgotten with a touch to your thigh
And this car, your car,
A car made of hollowed out Starbucks cups
And McDonald's fumes
Intertwined with the smoke of bad decisions
Has become shelter
From the storms slipping through our fisted fingers

Read More

Twenty Reasons to Save Myself and One to Burn by Annabelle Smith (Maryland, 18)

9/30/2023

 
Because I swore on the Bible that I would tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth, and God always knows when I lie.

Because I want to be clean; clean as a blade through skin, a church pew before Sunday service, a
wooden rosary worn smooth by years of wandering fingertips.

Because the Bible says “respect thy mother and father,” even if you have a father who loves Jim
Beam and the crack of a belt more than he loves Jesus.

Because the only burning I can stand is the carpeted kneeler in the prison church rubbing my
knees raw.

Because there is no second baptism.

Because there is no one else to pray for my sister, Mary, who is neither a virgin nor a mother,
who had no messenger of God to tell her “do not be afraid” when she felt that first wriggle inside
the most sacred parts of herself.
​
Because after a month of good behavior, I was rewarded with a paperback copy of the Bible, its
delicate pages spread on my pillow like angel wings.

Read More

MOM, I WANT TO STAY by Krapook Yanitta (Thailand, 17)

9/30/2023

 
​You look at your mom, smiling at you, and you realize that you will never get to live with her as
a child ever again. The next time you see her, you’ll be an adult and she’ll be old. That’s the pain
of loving somebody, you want things to stay the same forever just when it gets good.

You look at my mom the moment before you move across the world to be born again. Just this
time, it’s not from her womb. You see her smiling face. She used to tell you stories about when
she was your age, and one day you’ll tell her the same stories she told you.

You won’t run into her in the house anymore. You won’t eat her meals. You wont get to run to
her when a laundry problem arises. But you know she’ll stay right there in the same place she
has always been, and when you come back, she’ll see how much you’ve grown.

Read More

My Mother’s Home by Ronita Chattopadhyay (India, 44)

9/30/2023

 
​We went that day
specially to see her childhood home.
We weren’t sure what state it would be in
and so we didn’t say anything
as the Uber travelled across the city
to a very different part
that my mother had once known
like the back of her hand.
My father, at one point,
exclaimed – “It is not there!
It is gone. Your house.

Read More

What Went Wrong? by Believer Waterson (South Africa, 24)

9/30/2023

 
She Was Only Five Years Old And Sweet
Young Naive Damsel And Ambitious
I Bet She Had Bright Future And Big Dreams
She Felt Comfortable And Safe Around You
She Looked At You As Her Hero And Protector

What Do You See When You Look In The Mirror
What Did You See When You Look At Her
What Came To Your Mind When She Cries
Are Her Tears Not Transparent Enough To See Pain
How Does If Feels Murdering An Innocent Soul

Read More

Ending by Lindsay Baik (South Korea)

9/30/2023

 
In her green dress flowing around 

her

If I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?
Cursing my name, wishing I stayed

I wish I wasn’t dead to you, because you’re still at my wake
I can’t curse your name, and I wish you stayed
Millions singing along with her, and I hope they relate
I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home
And she falls to the ground, on her knees, desperate
You would be my home for as long as I remember you
And without you, I’m free but without a home
And I wish I couldn’t relate

Read More
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