normal things
Votey Cheav
Home is where you return
to when your heart is weary,
or after a long time away
and no other bed will do.
Home feels well-worn,
worn-in and one-of-a-kind,
like that one sweater you reach for
at the first chill of winter.
Home tastes like that first bite--
the tingle of briny and bold fish sauce,
that beckons with every morsel
in Mak’s dish that reeks of nostalgia.
Home looks like the street where you grew up
and grew tired of, imagining sidewalk cracks
as you fold the secrets with the laundry
scrubbed clean within tight insulated walls.
Home has become the sacred refuge
where kith and kin unmask their status
of illegal, unwanted—a burgeoning survival,
a growth not stunted by the scorching sun.
to when your heart is weary,
or after a long time away
and no other bed will do.
Home feels well-worn,
worn-in and one-of-a-kind,
like that one sweater you reach for
at the first chill of winter.
Home tastes like that first bite--
the tingle of briny and bold fish sauce,
that beckons with every morsel
in Mak’s dish that reeks of nostalgia.
Home looks like the street where you grew up
and grew tired of, imagining sidewalk cracks
as you fold the secrets with the laundry
scrubbed clean within tight insulated walls.
Home has become the sacred refuge
where kith and kin unmask their status
of illegal, unwanted—a burgeoning survival,
a growth not stunted by the scorching sun.
Votey Cheav is a Cambodian-American daughter of refugees who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. She was born in a refugee camp and returned to Cambodia to witness its rebirth and resurgence of identity amidst changing geopolitical alliances. She is a trained lawyer and interested in the collective consciousness – the moments and memories that evoke awakening in each of us. Votey is now based in London.
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