WILLOWS: tell us about you, and your relationship to making, creating, or finding your way through expression. how did you get started in your current craft?

JESSICA: my hands are meant to make. from scrawling on my legs with a marker to refining lines on a tablet in the name of digital art, bending wire
and bead for jewelry, to typing on a screen, my hands have always created.

strangely, i used to not care much for writing, especially poetry. they were nothing more than words on paper to grow and dissect for a grade. i did well in each English class i took, but i never felt a connection to the subject. one of my teachers once told me she saw potential in me and encouraged me to consider the field. yet, it never occurred to me that I could be the one penning the tales that played movies in my head. it wasn't until i started tutoring for writing that my perspective truly shifted. in guiding students, i stumbled into a path i had not expected, but am happily fond of.

it started with more theoretical tangents, narratives, and then poetry. now, fully embracing writing, i am submitting to literary magazines, like WILLOWS, which has only deepened my love for the craft.

WILLOWS: what was your process in making this piece? what were your inspirations? how long did it take you? how many iterations did you go
through?

JESSICA: this piece combines memories and present pain during the time of writing. i remember running on the dirt and gravel track, and my
muscles burned, but i couldn't stop. i remember the KFC fried chicken bucket, as well as the baked chicken from the store and the school
cafeteria. most of the other students would rather have pizza or nachos than chicken, but it was my favorite item on the menu. i remember being disgusted by the sight of red, a memory that the same meat i ate was the one that lifted my head just above water—the same type that wasn't enough when water seemed better than air in the little chlorinated pool. somehow, when my pain flares up, i am brought back to those snippets of my life. my legs carry me when I frequent 10k steps a day, but i carry the nerves that cry with anguish.

when i write, it is usually in bursts, and with poetry, i can usually pen a draft in one sitting. this was the case for “shank,” which was
written in the first and latter half, split by a break. then, a few revisions were made for line breaks and grammar. the process altogether likely took a few hours.

WILLOWS: in both your artist statement and your poem, you make references to the ease, agility, and burden-carrying we expect from our legs. can you speak more about your experience with burdens and their relationship to pain and consumption?

JESSICA: pain is a burden, and it consumes livelihood. it eats away at joy while demanding to be fed and tended to. even then, it lingers,
preparing for its next meal. it’s a cycle, eating away at time and energy as it goes.

WILLOWS: can you speak on the many beautiful metaphors you employed in "shank"? please elucidate some of the more enigmatic devices you wielded.

JESSICA: words are like putty to my brain, intended to be pulled apart, shaped, and rearranged.

“legs for agility bless kisses to the silt ingénue; / tethered tissue upon pumped fiber drafts / zephyr contract in each sole print—” speaks to the grace of functional legs, which can so easily be taken for granted.

“iron whispers of the sky's clandestine arrangements, / gratified by the hostile monarch's grasp over rue / and her dear cousin: rosemary—” highlights the sensitive nature of the body, so easily irritated. pain acts as a tyrant, reigning over movement.

“on the fine China dinner plate: sprig / lacquered with sweet Sherry ambition, / polyurethane-blanketed queries, / and maraschino covenants” raises the succulence of a meal, curiosity and passion silenced by a need to consume.

“the heft nest that the legs carry” discusses the delicate responsibility that the legs carry. one fall and the body, a mere biological clock, can crumble, much like eggs in a basket.

this poem is intended to explore the duties that legs bear, from aesthetics to consumption to weight.

WILLOWS: what else are you working on? where would you like to go in the future of your craft(s)?

JESSICA: if course, i am constantly working on new poetry and prose. lately, i have been exploring more speculative fiction and pairing my writing with graphic design. the graphic design bit also relates to photography, another hobby of mine. i hope to publish a book one day. i have a few stories i am simultaneously working on. a common theme that binds them together is the idea of connection. what does it mean to genuinely know someone? how can trust be etched like window arches on a sandcastle, but so easily crumpled by a moody wave?

at my university, i also work as an editor for Her Campus and a content writer for Asian Americans in Mental Health. in addition, i am
a newsletter contributor for Vellichor Literary’s Kiwi Bites!

besides writing, i make jewelry and other crafts like pipe cleaner bouquets. this year, i am hoping to vend more at local events! feel free to check my crafts out at @tokkidum on instagram and depop, and @tokkiwrites on instagram for writing!

more recently, i started my own literary magazine, Cuspid Literary (@cuspidliterary), inspired by my favorite tooth.