KATHERINE WEI - POEMS

Katherine Wei is a Chinese-American writer from Arizona. Her poems have been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Her work is published in the Rising Phoenix Press, Risen Zine, Life in 10 Magazine, and more. She typically writes about culture, nature, and memories from her childhood. During her free time, Katherine likes to skateboard, play volleyball with her friends, and paint acrylic portraits.

YOUTH

​Her daughters wheeled her out into the lobby
Her head crooked on her shoulder
Her skin so wrinkly, that
They made mountains and valleys
Where her youth sank through her bones
 
What do you want to do when you get out of here? one daughter asked
She sat there, in the same position, heart pumping slow
Running low on her youth
 
Mom open your eyes please. Sleeping is for the dead. You are alive
Let’s go live, the other daughter pleaded
She heard them but only mumbled something indistinct
 
They kept questioning, begging her to open her eyes and live
Under all those years of accumulated white hairs and wrinkles
Her youth glows quaveringly in her soul.
 
The days when she’d climb mountains and explore the unknown,
She dreamt of fast currents and rowboats
To conquer all of nature
 
Days when she’d get drunk with her friends
Partying until dawn, she remembers the boy
She puked on later that night. How he did
Become her husband
 
That flicker of youth in her fragile delicate body
Ignites her bones into a fiery fire
Gradually rekindling her life
 
The warmth from her skin traces the lines and curves
On her body, and her eyes flutter open
Strength doesn’t overcome her quite yet
But her daughters’ youth carries her out,
Out of the dust
Back to her youth
 

REFLECTION

​She stands two feet away
Helpless, an image of pain and longing
Painted across her delicate features
Her body moves like an irregular ticking clock
Her hips dive into her body at an awkward angle
Her breasts flattened deep into her chest
Where her heart lies beating to the sounds
Of ghosts that sing around her
Lulling her to sleep with chimes
Her stomach sags down like a potato sack
Her arms are flimsy chicken wings
Her thighs like metal rods, bulky
Her face scattered with polka dots
 
She puts her hands over her paper-thin body
Sucks her stomach into her spine
And watches her exhale which
Moves a mountain back to its place
 
 

BIG EYES

​When the teacher shouts for eyes on her
The wandering eyes go to her,
But silently are still busy at work.
Eyes consume the body, outside in,
Growing larger and larger,
As they set sight on the small things,
Then the big things,
Then the world.
More and more pairs of eyes
Become twisted in the ideal
Of unlimited wants.
Unfortunately,
The world is not free,
Not limitless.
 
Those big eyes
Cannot set sight on everything.