THE POWER OF CLOTHES
I change from shorts to pantsuit, sweat left inside the car,
On top of the gym bag; careful steps in heels, not flip-flops.
People act the way they dress; skipping is impossible in suits.
—from 2014 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
__________
Why do you like to write poetry?
Grace L. Park: “I find that my poetry is strongest when it’s from my experiences. In fact, one of my favorite quotes is one by John Steinbeck, who said, ‘A story to be effective [has] to convey something from the writer to the reader, and the power of its offering [is] the measure of its excellence. Outside of that, there [are] no rules.’ These sijos are two of my attempts to capture some of my experiences and how they’ve affected me.”