(Non)detrimental Reliance | Esther Ra
In contract law, detrimental reliance occurs when a party is reasonably induced to rely on a promise made by another party to their loss or harm.
I want to believe I see what is broken
because once I had seen what is whole. Far-off,
fragmented memory, from which I jerked awake
shivering, spitting pinecones, snapped twigs
like toothpicks in my teeth. My whole life
I have sewn in the cloak of your mouth,
sifting dark stones, searching for honey. Tell me
this is more than naivete; more than dreamwalk
through dross and debris. So often I would stare
at the skies full of dust & the swirl of gray hair
& snow dropping quietly on my city, feeling
a hunger too common to name. They say home
is where you no longer try to escape. Lately,
I’ve been seeing doors in everything: a glass poem,
a kind smile, my name thawing in somebody’s mouth.
I have tasted you, resinous, rich with woodsap &
promise of spring. I cast my life on your waters.
Your hand lifts, flaming, torching
the dark: the first traveler, pointing us home.
About the Author:
Esther Ra is a bilingual writer who alternates between California and Seoul, South Korea. She is the author of A Glossary of Light and Shadow (Diode Editions, 2023) and book of untranslatable things (Grayson Books, 2018). Her work has been published in Boulevard, The Florida Review, Rattle, The Rumpus, Bellingham Review, and Korea Times, among others. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Pushcart Prize, 49th Parallel Award, Women Writing War Poetry Award, and Sweet Lit Poetry Award. Esther is currently a J.D. candidate at Stanford Law School. (estherra.com)