Enjoy Being Human

Dena Igusti

my mother lets me use kemana-where- and kesana-there-interchangeably
she appreciates that i’m at least trying

kemana?

my smile leans towards the left in
photographs the way
my mother and her mother’s do.

kesana-

i am afraid of inheriting more than this
but more terrified of this being my only heirloom.

kesana?

my mother’s blue-black bruise
haunts me complacent.

kemana-

what her skin no longer remembers
my reflex never forgets

kemana?

you can tell by the way i flinch.

kesana-

i move my limbs frantically yet
the air is the one who
cuts me instead

kesana?

everywhere looks like
somewhere that my loved ones
can stay long after this

kemana?
the corner block

kesana-

[REDACTED]’s face will illuminate
under street lights forever

kesana?

a tree

kemana-

my father will
finally flourish

kemana?

the sea

kesana-

how i will stay
and go

kesana?

a gap, a fire, a wound, a throat, a hole,

kemana-

i see myself at the bottom.


About Dena Igusti

Contributor headshot, Dena Igusti;

Dena Igusti is an Indonesian-Muslim poet based in Queens, New York. She is currently the co-founder of Short Line!, an organization dedicated to connecting artists to their communities, to each other, to resources, and to themselves. She is a 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador, and 2017 Urban Word Federal Hall Fellow. Her work has been featured in BOAAT Press, The Shanghai Literary Review, and more. You can find her work at denaigusti.wordpress.com.

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