Jessica Kim
Grades 9-10 Winner


This Side, Reimagined
“Her philosophy is carpe diem for herself and laissez faire for others.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise

After the war, there are always promises to begin again.

As if I can undo tragedy with a finger, clots of blood

spilling death into slogans. Like the other men, I am

obsessed with capitalism.
The men learn to drink alcohol

like lifelines. I do too, but lose all of my investments

to a country in hunger. Inheritance no longer has a value. They tell me

that girls only look for
two things: beauty and wealth.

I realize it’s true. In town, the rose bushes litter the window sills,

so much so that I mistake this story for a happy ending.

Remember each failed romantic affair, how she found another

man who was wealthier
than you were. Instead, I learn

how to fake love as if a currency.
All that my country

can teach me is laissez faire: greed posing as freedom.

I am homeless and disillusioned but this time, I know where

the story needs to go.
To dismantle the system

of wealth, the only way to win back the woman. Unlike

the other men, I understand myself better when desperate.