issue five / mosaic
SELF PORTRAIT AS SISYPHUS ON A HILL
Solly Woo
time’s a slipstream, constantly
carving out fish bones and letting us
choke it back up.
during the hottest day of the year,
you stayed at my house:
your paper stars in my pocket,
all eight calico critters on the ground.
and as i sat on my bed,
i asked you: could you want this if we
separated breathing and loving?
you nodded, and i didn’t
know if you meant it.
after you left, i read Kafka
and the absurdists,
who said life brought out
some meaning to gods,
to mother nature,
to us.
that as humans,
we were supposed
to hold this in our hands
like hearts and squeeze it back.
but instead, i watched everything from a distance
because each act of saving
ultimately is leaving something
else behind.
carving out fish bones and letting us
choke it back up.
during the hottest day of the year,
you stayed at my house:
your paper stars in my pocket,
all eight calico critters on the ground.
and as i sat on my bed,
i asked you: could you want this if we
separated breathing and loving?
you nodded, and i didn’t
know if you meant it.
after you left, i read Kafka
and the absurdists,
who said life brought out
some meaning to gods,
to mother nature,
to us.
that as humans,
we were supposed
to hold this in our hands
like hearts and squeeze it back.
but instead, i watched everything from a distance
because each act of saving
ultimately is leaving something
else behind.
Solly Woo is a young writer based in South Korea. Her work is published/forthcoming in Aster Lit, manywor(l)ds, Paper Crane Journal, Young Writer's Journal and others. Apart from writing, she enjoys learning languages and taking photographs. You can find more of her work on https://sollywoo.carrd.co/