
For Jung-In, a Korean domestic adoptee, who was 16 months old when she died from child abuse on October 13, 2020.
A broken arm
and fractured
bones
with bruised legs
your listless body
shattered like glass
beneath the dark sky
***
Day after day
the walls closed in
the panic in your screams
the lonely cries
turned to silence
***
Didn’t the adoption agency
promise you a safe and loving family?
An adoptee isn’t a commodity
to trade in
get a refund
or cancel for free
gutted and thrown away
there isn’t enough rage
to fill the empty nights
***
In my dream
I cradled your broken body on my chest
the slow rising
and falling
of our breath
tethered by
our deepest wounds
you didn’t cry,
instead, you sang a beautiful song
which carried you far from this world
your spirit set free.