My brown girl traveled an ocean
to me. Swam in a bucket, a caught
& angry fish. Always swimming
in frantic laps. Never being good girl
for mama. But now, she is mine & I
will teach her virtue. How to never leave
your room without matching bras & panties.
How to wrap, wrap, wrap & hide blood.
How to be gracious for those that saved you
to say thank you after a beating & not cry.
By my hand, my brown girl will be worthy,
will be different. Will learn to wash
away the day’s stink & always wear lipstick.
Ansley Moon is the author of the poetry collections, Register the Missing (Kaya Press, 2026) and How to Bury the Dead (Black Coffee Press, 2011). They are an Asian American adoptee, poet, and educator. Moon writes the "Teach this Poem" series for the Academy of American poets and is a Co-Founding member of The Starlings Collective, a BIPOC adoptee writers and artists collective.
photo by Carolyn Kehler
From September 14-25, in honor of her residency at The Betsy Hotel and our 10th anniversary season, SWWIM Every Day will be featuring a selection of poems curated by Sarah Audsley.
Sarah Audsley is the author of Landlock X (Texas Review Press, 2023). A Korean American adoptee, a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and a member of The Starlings Collective, Audsley lives and works in northern Vermont. She serves as the Writing Program Director at Vermont Studio Center.
We hope you enjoy this special collaboration!