I Didn’t Ask You To
my mother presses me, pushes me,
because she was taught to press
a wound which bleeds, staunch the flow,
she presses into my stomach, applies pressure,
her hands are in my heart, applying pressure, invisible wound,
she tries to stop the flow of pain which
comes from every organ in my body.
she presses us, puts pressure on the fissure,
thinking
hoping
saving
staunching the flow of blood from a wound
she doesn’t know is there.
her hands put pressure on the stitches i already sewed up,
the wound is aching,
blood already clotted,
and her hands open up the trauma again.
she says it’s not my blood on her hands.
Taylor Moore (she/her) still considers herself attached to her tiny hometown of Leesville, Louisiana, much to the dismay of the less-than-queer population. Now living in Orlando, Florida, she processes the survival racism her mother, a Korean immigrant, instilled in her through playing League of Legends and writing Korean fantasy novels. Taylor was previously published in Veritas, a flash fiction anthology.
