April Lit: "Projector" by Cathy Linh Che
Cathy Linh Che's poem "Projector" is a quiet, tense poem that captures the helplessness of a child forced into an adult situation. The poem is painful in its sparseness and heartbreaking in its untold brutality.
The poem is part of Che's forthcoming collection 'Split' [2], available from Alice James Books on April 29th.
-- Karissa Chen, Fiction & Poetry Editor
While I slept, my cousin placed
his mother’s mask on me,
asked me if I loved him.
He wore wolf ears.
I willed him to hear the change
in atmosphere, the tilt of air
—no, no, no—
his finger slid
under the white
underwear.
The air was cool,
my face on fire.
I wore my woman’s mask.
Underneath,
I was ten years old.
When he kissed me, the edges
of our magnetic fields touched.
Inside, my heart compressed
into a black hole.