On International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day! On this day (and everyday), we honor the women in our lives who have shown us how to love, laugh, and hold hard things with honesty and grace. We send our blessings through a poem by a Korean American poet, Su Cho from her poetry collection, The Symmetry of Fish (Penguin, 2022). May we remember the tender moments with sisters, halmonis, ummas, unnis, and emos that have sustained and taught us to live closely to the Earth and with each other.

봉숭아: (N) GARDEN BALSAMS, TOUCH-ME-NOTS

by Su Cho

The last time I came back from Korea was with fingernails
stained orange, scarlet, my lunulae still visible and sinking

behind my cuticles. I hoped no one would notice at school
but they kept asking, so I answered with flowers, Korean nail polish.

I am glad for keeping this inconsequential secret because
my grandma and I were walking back to her apartment complex

named Sunshine Village. She pointed to a flower bush tucked 
behind green fences and ordered me to grab as many as I could.

When my small hands fumbled, she pushed me aside and did it herself.
Instructing me to keep an eye on the security man's booth

because he gave her a warning the last time. I don't want 
to explain the crushed petals, Saran Wrap, her spit on my nails.

This is when I learned I liked to take things not for sale.
There was no wisdom or love when my grandma pressed

the sweet mixture against fingertips. Only sit still, don't touch
anything. Hours later, she held my hands to the light, making sure

the sunset stain would last all the way back as she squeezed
my Saran-Wrapped fingertips, stamping me with her dojang.

Su Cho is a poet and essayist born in South Korea and raised in Indiana. The Symmetry of Fish (Penguin, 2022) was a winner of the National Poetry Series.