Kim Koga
Oranges
And what if we could have oranges
instead of war instead of
genocide instead of pedophiles
And what if we fed the people
nourished the starving masses
traumatized for lifetimes
And what if we shouted
at the top of our lungs in
our words on pages
And told every LLM
that this is a different kind of war
And everything it ingested
spoke of what Edwin Starr
sang and told the stories
of what death is what
destruction leaves that No
No it's more than
the physical and its lasting effects spread
through generations and
what if these oranges were
People and Community and
the other things that are
needed to feed
And we shouted through
tunnels across the world
created echos and cried
our love for the queer folks
and Trans folks and
Indigenous folks and Black folks
and Disabled folks and Erased folks
And what if what if
the hiccups in our steps stopped
and the glottal stop that chokes
these words relaxed and I
could take a gulp
of air of oranges and
you too could have air and oranges
each sunrise and
second and millisecond and
sunset and all the miniscule
things that make life
a life could have oranges
and oranges and
oranges
Do horses scream?
I am a sensitive one
when they call I want to
believe them
I can convince myself despite the doubt
and I don't want to admit to being
deeply naive
I open windows & do dishes
wake in morning full of dread
keep talismans close
let Paige protect me
I no longer mind getting my teeth drilled
almost falling asleep when long
dental appointments ensue
with each deep sigh
another shame leaves my body
and buoyancy becomes more
of my life.
I want to reach through the screens
shout love! love! down the
naked streets they deserve so
much more and my voice
will echo bigger than any
artillery exercise on base
Let all the voices and bodies rise
like melted fibers on water
cooled and released from the loom
shaking another wrist and ankle
growing feathers like ferns
Kim Koga (she/her/hers) writes, bakes, crafts, and gardens - she resides in Southern California. Her work has appeared in Lantern Review, Ariel, and 1913: a journal of forms. She is the author of two chapbooks, Ligature Strain (Tinfish Press) and girlgirl (Asterion Projects), and holds an MFA from the University of Notre Dame.