Don't Forget

There is no evacuating earth

In my dailiness,
I am there and I am not there
I have moved onto here
I evacuated. Got out. There, there.

If you ask, “How are you?”
I would like to skip over your meaning.
Who are you to enter my depths of death?
There died the American Dream of Homefulness
Aspirational objects emanating hopes
Kitchenware for dinner parties
Books like blankets for the dreamer
Artworks by us displaying our tender hearts

My not-my house, the best possession, has disappeared
Now a horizon of ashes
How the green earth, blue sky, red sun
Conspired with the worst winds to draw
Tears of life, Catastrophe has no boundaries

I would like to forget
You know my loss
I would like to forget
You were needed
So I have not replied to your message
not thanked you properly
not invited you over

To enter forgetfulness
I have gone to denial
which holds the dead like a coffin
If forgetting is a deadening

But I am a mournful body that is not dead
I did not burn like my objects
I lost a world and learned of other worlds
I am learning it is possible to live with the dead
So I might be moving from a mortal tomb to a haunted immortality
Which may be why I am writing—to exit my denial

You all being here is a reason to live
My beloved lovelies
I have not forgotten
I was in need And
Your hands pulled me out of the flames
Your tears answered me
Your arms held me

Your offering got me through
Your floral soul bloomed with compassion
You paused your own howling life
To mourn my loss, a loss that was really a collective loss
As it happened due to that biggest unmentionable we are all facing—

We are at war with our own denial, that pretending to be dead.
We are breathing. Earth is breathing
This alive planet is dead not yet
We can regenerate our only home. We can offer ourselves
Stop murdering our own futures
Stop setting fires to houses

In our dailiness,
We are there and we are not there
We have moved onto here
We cannot evacuate earth. Here here

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“Don’t Forget: There is No Evacuating Earth”

By Jisung Catherine Kim

May 14, 2025

A poem written in gratitude–to the friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers who offered loving support, including financial support, through their Gofundme, after their home burned down during the Palisades Fire of 2025

The accompanying 3:15-min video shows the poet reading this poem aloud in selfie mode.