You’ve Reached Your Destination, The Circus is in Town, The Upper Parts
art by Jacelyn Yap
by Kim Chinquee
You’ve Reached Your Destination
We’re on trains and buses, testifying against criminals, then on a late-night plane to somewhere else. Something in my gut doesn’t sit right, and I have a pain beneath my kneecap. I realize, as I write, this is no help to my reader. How can one escape a world that exists beyond the limits of one’s body? What happens after you must sleep and fall into another land? It’s not all dandelions and sunshine, says one ghost to me. I’m not a ghost, I say. And then one laughs and says maybe I am.
The Circus is in Town
Let’s skip a day, I say to my dog, of going to the park. We live in a college town, full of left-handed scholars, shapeshifters, administrative thugs. I cook collard greens, adding every kind of spice. My dog looks up at me, jumps, resting her paws, her jaw, onto the surface of me.
The Upper Parts
It’s not fair, she says to a random god above, to be forced to play games that challenge psyche. It’s not in her job description, but now her job demands it. What’s the sense? Oh, there’s lots, says a figure from the corner. Hello! says a small voice from the upper parts of a solarium that no one will probably see during this day in 2023. Lots of things happen all over the place. She’s not sure where she is now. She’s stuck in a windmill. She’s a golden retriever. She might as well be a bug, a gladiator. But you know where this girl is? She’s small and lovely. She’s escaping lots of trauma she doesn’t even see as trauma until she must grow into an adult. She’s putting her feet in the water again, feeling the stream against her feet. She feels the cold sensation. She’s watching the minnows, doing their thing. She’ll envision this throughout her life. She’ll return with the same minnows, and they’ll welcome her. They’ll even jump out of the water if they must, telling her how excited they are to have her back again.
Kim Chinquee's tenth title I Thought of England is forthcoming with Boabab Press. She has published widely and received three Pushcart Prizes. She is Senior Editor of New World Writing Quarterly, Associate Editor of Midwest Review, Chief Editor of ELJ (Elm Leaves Journal), Prose Poetry Editor of Pithead Chapel, and Coordinator of SUNY-Buffalo State University's writing major. She's a competitive triathlete and lives with her three dogs in Western New York.
Jacelyn (she/her) is a self-taught visual artist who ditched engineering to make art because of a comic she read. Her artworks and photography have been published by the Commonwealth Foundation's adda, Chestnut Review, The Lumiere Review, and more. She can be found at https://jacelyn.myportfolio.com/ and on Instagram at @jacelyn.makes.stuff
