perhappened mag
issue 7: SNOWFALL
inexhaustive list of
unspeakable things
NORA HIKARI
Silvered girl, drawn and
poured, something about this
is all too familiar.
Glasstouch, you hate
a shattered face, the way it lies,
the way it says something else.
I know you mean it when you say
that I'm like you. I know.
I don't hate you.
The first of man had his woman
woven to his side
before God cleaved him
into wanting, and every day he would look
for what was missing,
never knowing that it was just the woman
part of him. And when she held him,
he held himself, with this gentleness
he learned from her.
I bought you these gloves.
I was out shopping and I saw
them and I thought of you
and I remembered how big
your hands felt anyways and so
with the weather getting cold, I
don't know, the thought of your hands
hurting made me want to cry
and I did, I started crying
right there in the TJ Maxx
and the fluorescent lights
didn't even care and the
other shoppers didn't
ask and anyways
I just thought you
should keep your hands warm for
all the work they do.
I'm leaving
but I want you
to come
with me.
poured, something about this
is all too familiar.
Glasstouch, you hate
a shattered face, the way it lies,
the way it says something else.
I know you mean it when you say
that I'm like you. I know.
I don't hate you.
The first of man had his woman
woven to his side
before God cleaved him
into wanting, and every day he would look
for what was missing,
never knowing that it was just the woman
part of him. And when she held him,
he held himself, with this gentleness
he learned from her.
I bought you these gloves.
I was out shopping and I saw
them and I thought of you
and I remembered how big
your hands felt anyways and so
with the weather getting cold, I
don't know, the thought of your hands
hurting made me want to cry
and I did, I started crying
right there in the TJ Maxx
and the fluorescent lights
didn't even care and the
other shoppers didn't
ask and anyways
I just thought you
should keep your hands warm for
all the work they do.
I'm leaving
but I want you
to come
with me.
Nora Hikari is an emerging poet and Asian-American trans lesbian based in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in Tealight Press, Feral Journal, and QAPoetry, among others, and her poem "Deer-to-Fish Transition Timeline" has been nominated for the Best of the Net award.