Monica Kim
email i received / sent : middle school
< TO : [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] ,
[REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] ,
[REDACTED]
< FROM : [REDACTED]
SUBJECT : SEND THIS TO 10 FRIENDS OR ELSE YOU’LL HAVE BAD LUCK
FOR 10 YEARS
i used 2 send these chain emails
2 ppl, incl my crush, who was the 1st
reason i asked appa to help me
set up a hotmail acc @ 10 yrs old.
a few yrs ago i deleted all my emails
from 6th gr onwards, erasing every
email from that time, incl the chain
emails i sent to friends & enemies,
a chain reaction of new & old
haunted stories : bad luck 4
2 yrs, loved ones dying, haunted
ghosts @ ur window, a world
that will irrevocably change
the course of ur life. Trailing
the forwarded emails : the height
of superstition : growing
up in a household
of superstition (don’t
write in red, don’t
whistle at night, don’t
shake ur leg up & down) meaning :
believing superstition suspending reality &
forwarding the goddamn email.
meaning: always making a wish
@ 11:11. meaning: noticing
angel numbers 2:22 on
2/2/22. somehow the chain
follows u into young adulthood
this time over txts
of vulgarity: FORWARD
THIS TO 9️⃣OF THE 🤧
THOTTIEST 🤧 THOTS
😜 THAT U KNO WILL
GET SOME 👉👌 SOON!!
IF U DONT, BE PREPARED
😈 FOR 6️⃣9️ DAYS OF BAD
LUCK 🔪
(yes, i did copy & paste this txt)
somehow & again: on instagram
“post an old photo of urself or else
bad luck for 2 yrs”
(this time, i passed & posted nothing)
the past morphs into the present
& everything old becomes new
again.
[REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] , [REDACTED] ,
[REDACTED]
< FROM : [REDACTED]
SUBJECT : SEND THIS TO 10 FRIENDS OR ELSE YOU’LL HAVE BAD LUCK
FOR 10 YEARS
i used 2 send these chain emails
2 ppl, incl my crush, who was the 1st
reason i asked appa to help me
set up a hotmail acc @ 10 yrs old.
a few yrs ago i deleted all my emails
from 6th gr onwards, erasing every
email from that time, incl the chain
emails i sent to friends & enemies,
a chain reaction of new & old
haunted stories : bad luck 4
2 yrs, loved ones dying, haunted
ghosts @ ur window, a world
that will irrevocably change
the course of ur life. Trailing
the forwarded emails : the height
of superstition : growing
up in a household
of superstition (don’t
write in red, don’t
whistle at night, don’t
shake ur leg up & down) meaning :
believing superstition suspending reality &
forwarding the goddamn email.
meaning: always making a wish
@ 11:11. meaning: noticing
angel numbers 2:22 on
2/2/22. somehow the chain
follows u into young adulthood
this time over txts
of vulgarity: FORWARD
THIS TO 9️⃣OF THE 🤧
THOTTIEST 🤧 THOTS
😜 THAT U KNO WILL
GET SOME 👉👌 SOON!!
IF U DONT, BE PREPARED
😈 FOR 6️⃣9️ DAYS OF BAD
LUCK 🔪
(yes, i did copy & paste this txt)
somehow & again: on instagram
“post an old photo of urself or else
bad luck for 2 yrs”
(this time, i passed & posted nothing)
the past morphs into the present
& everything old becomes new
again.
Monica Kim (she/her) is a queer Korean diaspora writer living on Canarsie & Munsee Lenape land (Brooklyn, New York). She is a first reader at Augur Magazine and has been part of Tin House Summer Workshop, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Periplus Collective, and The Watering Hole. Her writing has appeared in Sho Poetry Journal, Gulf Coast Journal, Honey Literary, and other publications.