Yvonne Nguyen
Photo by Chiara Dondi (@chiaradondi13 on IG)
Yvonne Nguyen is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia, currently teaching English Language Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Recently, her poem "I Would've Called Her Honey" was shortlisted for the Brain Mill Press Poetry Month Award. Other works of hers can be read in The Roadrunner Review, Call Me [Brackets], Down in the Dirt, Bewildering Stories, Ginosko Literary Magazine, Yes Poetry, and Plainsongs. Her work has also been nominated for the Best of the Net Award and the 2020 Pushcart Prize.
Too Much Emotion Stains the Living Room Furniture
Then, there’s a moment
when I decide that I am tired
of the bleeding. I’m tired of the rust stench
wetness that I can’t beat
out of my clothes. How it makes everyone else
in the room feel self-consciously dry.
Like I can’t stop crying because of the news
article my mom emailed me
about an 88-year-old crossing guard who died
saving two little boys.
Do you understand?
What I’m trying to say is that
I went looking for a suture and found
an open flame who tried to cauterize
my bleeding heart with his temper. Everything
is a carefully negotiated purchase,
mangled scar tissue for sanguine flesh, raw and sopping.
And there is always one friend listening
but also thinking that no one deserves sympathy
for buyer’s remorse. Or maybe, I’m that friend
to myself. The one that is all tough love
and blunt opinions because
they never really learned how to hold somebody,
not even themselves.
©2020 West Trade Review
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