Poetry: Leng Neoi
“Leng Neoi” translates in English to “pretty girl” yet the poem’s strength is resisting a simple presentation of beauty. Governed by a succession of monostiches, the speaker navigates its readers through fragments of childhood memories in which they attempt again and again to force themselves into the mold of beauty. Each line of poetry a wound singing.
Leng3 Neoi5-2
whose ear piercings get infected
who sits under the kitchen island, eating peanut butter from the jar
who beheads Ken dolls
who first hears her voice through a pink, heart-shaped tape recorder
who wears ngin ngin’s dresses
who cuts tags off jeans so no one will see her size in gym class
who eats raw ramen while watching Dora the Explorer
who paints her stuffed animals’ nails green
who throws away the lunch her mother packs for her every day
who the hairdresser says has a pretty face
who orders eyelid tape
whose music teacher tells her: just pretend to sing at the class concert
who did and continues to
who wants to stay—a leng neoi
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3. flat mid
5-2. high flat; low falling
Stephanie Choi
Stephanie Choi’s poems appear or are forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Electric Literature, Cosmonauts Avenue, PANK, and elsewhere. She was a Breadloaf Environmental Writers Conference Fellowship recipient in 2021 and is an MFA candidate at the University of Utah.
