Yongma Land Insists

I am the ultimate pivoter: my crumbling castle turned wedding studio

Come pay to watch me fall apart

Once deserted, I am now a nostalgic photoshoot backdrop

Trees grow in my carousel but not my walkway

My grown-over canopy is part of my charm

I am not afraid for you to see my rust

If you ask me how I am, I’ll tell you about my stiff joints & burned-out lights

I’ll bring you Sailor Moon with her blown-out stomach

I’ll show you the hill where a man stacks my parts & leaves me to die

I am not afraid of dying, because I have already died & lived to tell of it

I asked God that I might live forever & He made me this electric graveyard

I asked God for wisdom & He gave me this broken cross of a body(Be careful
what you wish for)

I am no longer the octopus who can run eight cars simultaneously

but I am filled & busy with busyness

No one can call me failed or obsolete (anymore)

I am not afraid of the dog that lives inside my tilt-a-whirl

Take pictures of my decay & tell me I’m beautiful

I am not afraid of you & your camera

I am not afraid of my own fear

I am not afraid of living forever like this

I am not

Meg Eden Kuyatt teaches creative writing at colleges and writing centers. She is the author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowning in the Floating World,” the forthcoming “obsolete hill” (Fernwood Press) and children’s novels including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning “Good Different,” and the forthcoming “The Girl in the Walls” (Scholastic, 2025). Find her online at megedenbooks.com.