Where I'm From, a poem by Jackie Chou at Spillwords.com

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Where I’m From

Jackie Chou·September 10, 2025

Poetry English

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Where I’m From

written by: Jackie Chou

I am from alleys
where the stench is erased
by gentrification

I am from smashed storefronts
in sepia photos
of immigrant inhabitants
who moved to the suburbs

I am from an alumni website
that’s unpeopled
except for a sooty man
with salt-and-pepper beard
requesting a yearbook
and a cancer patient
sharing feel-good memes

I am from a young girl
the two ends of my mouth
weighed down by the years
my cheeks filling out
like the waxing moon

About
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Jackie Chou

Jackie Chou is a poet of free verses and Japanese short form poetry who has work forthcoming in Mollyhouse Lit and Cyan: an Anthology of Confessional Poetry. Her poem "Cycle of a Tree" was nominated for a Pushcart by Highland Park Poetry.

Jim Bartlett

After a long career tinkering in telecommunications, Jim Bartlett switched to tinkering with writing fiction, both requiring a stretch of the imagination. In the course of putting his fingers to the keyboard, he's been fortunate to have quite a number of his stories featured both in print and online in several wonderful publications, including a story selected for "The Best of Fiction on the Web, 1996 – 2017" anthology. While mentally he strolls along a warm California beach with his wife and golden retriever (shhh, she doesn't know she's a dog), physically they reside on a special little island in the Pacific Northwest.

Reaper by Sharon Frame Gay

As an orphaned son of an orphan, I always see the glass as half empty. I picture the water murky and lukewarm, a waterline etched below the rim. Maybe with an ash or two floating at the bottom, because that’s what I do for a living. I deal with ashes. The remains of the deceased. No matter how those who pass away see their glass, meager or full, they eventually end up in a satchel carried on my shoulder.
My business card reads “Morton Stark Transport.” I’m called upon to disperse the ashes of the dearly departed and honor their final wishes. People hire me to escort the remains throughout the world ...

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