By JIHYUN PAIK
here;
take before
you, see, behold
extravagance extraordinarily unceasing in splendor
traces lingering without diffusion
fragrances eternally unfolding; everlasting altar
all yours to take, this this and that
if only you had more hands to grasp it all
if only a mind to comprehend
if only your eye could see past the horizon,
‘round the whole of it and back again then only would you be able to realize
there’s no horizon, the vanishing point rushing at you till—
abolish distance explode proportion
collisions of echoes
whispers like the crashing of waves
or maybe the thunder a mere murmur
but the raindrops are mirrors here
or maybe the lights themselves—light itself (scattered into a million fractals, fragments)
fall as they do
collide – shatter – merge
once and once and all again
illumination so blinding
milk and honey flowing overflowing flooding that
this must be
— what would it feel like throwing your head back to take —
the place
— wondering can only get you so far —
so a touch grazing
skin and skin meeting coming together at the seams
fissures knit open and cut back into
there you have now become,
but there
a dullness round the edges
rust tarnish seeping through
spices puncturing incense stifling
oxygen choking hazardous
too much much too much
who told you could would be able
and now
gnashing of teeth
wallow in rain unending
glass shards plummeting embedding
nectar congeal blood coagulate
fossilize bury bone
it becomes you become it
transubstantiation of a debased kind
Writer | Jihyun Paik ’24 | jpaik24@amherst.edu
Editor | Grace Escoe ’26 | gescoe26@amherst.edu