By JIHYUN PAIK
1. A thing in the sense of being present-at-hand …
2. Thing in the sense in which it means whatever is named but which includes also plans, decisions, reflections, loyalties, actions, historical things …
3. All these and anything else that is a something (ein Etwas) and not nothing.
Martin Heidegger
the gaps between your fingers the emptiness your hand cradles
as it swings forth and back be
side your legs the back and forth
back and forth rhythm tempo inflection
of limb brushing past
limb the weight
of your foot step prints
invisible on alabaster floor ghostly
the haunt of your petrichor
All these and anything else.
the silence between the beat
of one drop let and
another diffusing
through cracks in this asphalt
flesh the
haunting of this desert
body by
your bygone
scent
All these and anything else.
this stillborn air
laced between
the chasms of
these ribs
poked holes in marrow
sinews tendered by
acid drop lets
falling
so fast it creates
a vacuum its
pressure
throbbing cramping
the very forces of my atmosphere
but, despite this
All these and anything else that is
something not you
nothing.
Writer | Jihyun Paik ’24 | jpaik24@amherst.edu
Editor | Jorge Rodriguez Jr. ’26 | jrodriguezjr26@amherst.edu