Poetry Power: “anti current”

As one of the last poems published on The Olympian for the school year, we share senior Lisette Choo’s poem “anti current”. “I started writing this poem as I was listening to the song “ANTIRIVER” by Jiwoo,” she wrote. “I created symbols inspired by the lyrics and and sounds of the song and added other details that either randomly appeared in my head or reminded me of some personal experiences. Like many of my other poems, I don’t know what this one means, but I think I ended up with a story about being in conflict with the nature of goodness.”

anti current

i’ll be the antiriver

you be the antidote.

my defenses against you

all eyes against you

pearl necklaces

glasses

my past against yours.

under current we’ve been

i couldn’t say no.

the depth, you say,

the depth is what counts.

a fistful of sand

a blister on hand

and soon

enough,

it’s my neck under yours.

fight me, i said

close the gap in my parting red sea

for all that was against you

is against me now.