I hope I haven’t ruined this city for you,
As if you could,
As if you were bigger than these tenements, balconied
and blessed with history, and you had walls dressed
to the nines to fives with graffiti,
and sidewalks hallowed, haunted by a few sad stories,
a few fierce glories,
As if you could be brighter than these lights,
bolder than this body of migrants, and you were all that is to see
of a city whose heartbeat I’m learning to carry
in a pocket left of a sound like the word home.

(Editors’ Note: “things you don’t say to city witches” is read by Stephanie Malia Morris on the Uncanny Magazine Podcast, Episode 27B.)

© 2019 Cassandra Khaw