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Choi Jeong Min by Franny Choi | Poetry Magazine

poetryfoundation.org · 455 words · saved by 1 readers

in the first grade i asked my mother permission

Share For my parents, Choi Inyeong & Nam Songeun in the first grade i asked my mother permission to go by frances at school. at seven years old, i already knew the exhaustion of hearing my name butchered by hammerhead tongues. already knew to let my salty gook name drag behind me in the sand, safely out of sight. in fourth grade i wanted to be a writer & worried about how to escape my surname — choi is nothing if not korean, if not garlic breath, if not seaweed & sesame & food stamps during the lean years — could i go by f.j.c.? could i be paper thin & raceless? dust jacket & coffee stain, bon

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