On winter nights Koreans heard infant cries
from distant wood owls. An abandoned newborn
amidst black trees, unaware
that it may be a bird. Allow me
to be like that. Let me speak these words louder
than pines cracking in the snow. Walk far from me,
mistake me for a howling animal. Permit me
and I will never write about you again.
Emily Jungmin Yoon is a Korean-Canadian poet-in-training. Previous honors she has received for poetry include the International Merit Award from the Atlanta Review, 1st place in the Iris N. Spencer Poetry Contest, and publication in the Apiary’s online magazine. She likes eating frozen yogurt, translating Korean poems, and recycling. She received her BA at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently an MFA candidate at New York University.