Emoji Words – Yash Seyedbagheri

Emojis consume words.

Instead of words like weary, anxious, fucked-up, emojis connote feelings. Most often, I turn to orange emojis and yellow faces with steam coming from their noses. They describe father’s criticisms. Bad son, give up writing, use women. Words that dissect, a scalpel.

I use laughing emojis only to describe drinking and hangovers after another fatherly lecture.

But laughing faces look like tears. Even hugging emojis conceal sorrow beneath their starched little smiles.

I try to give them up. I can’t find my words, emitting grunts. What’s the emoji for that?

At least they look how I feel.

About the contributor: Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University’s MFA program in fiction. Yash’s work is forthcoming or has been published in Café Lit, Mad Swirl, and Ariel Chart, among others.