By Manthipe Moila
**, 26
BIO
small-voiced tender-breasted tight-
ly wound
full of mnemonics remembers
the Korean word for face
by picturing a room full of *ghoulish leers
speaks about home in abstractions
wants love to be concrete textured-right
brittle like bone left to soak in soda
says soda now
neat-limbed but mind the fissures
mind the outbursts
mind the pebbled stoniness
and teeth
mind the soft gummy tissue
might open for you if you promise
to crack open first
*The Korean word for face is ‘얼굴’ pronounced similarly to ‘all-ghoul’
Manthipe Moila is a poet from Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a BA Hons. in English Literature from Rhodes University. She has been published in New Contrast, Stirring, Kalahari Review and Tupelo Quarterly. Her upcoming publications will appear in Agbowó, Thimble, Hotazel Review , and Hole in the Head Review. She is currently based in Seoul, South Korea. Photo credit: Rae Ann Bochanyin