Where I Find Her/Where I Leave Her

Stephanie Choi

Strands of my hair collect dust
at the corners of the bathroom

that my mother has not yet
stepped into, not yet kneeled

onto the cold, white tile
to pick up what I’ve shed.

I once shaved her back
in another bathroom where

she may be standing right now.
Where she may be looking

at the photo of us tucked between
glass and wood frame. Where I see

her tray of perfumes reflected
against my torso, in my mirror

even though it is not here.
Even when she is not here

her hand reaches out
to brush my hair.

Stephanie Choi’s poems appear or are forthcoming in Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Electric Literature, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere.