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Amelia Chang
Poetry, my darling palindrome
there is this girl that is like fallingwater,
like sandpapered wheels hurtled across tarmac,
roaring
far, lejano
but tongue furled right on my ear, waterfall
rushing hot-blooded creatures with filthy
thoughts seeping for a long long time,
i will love you
one black-tea bag every English class 8:03 AM
repulsively dry, like fuzzy skin of fat yellow-purple
grape grinding against your tongue & teeth
& darkened-rich as those clotted etches
on my wrists & moist spongy string of
glioblastoma
impairs speech & i can’t hear or think or speak
so beautiful i cannot breathe out
i’m absolutely
falling
we think the earth all metamorphoses into one ugly moth
someday learnt to draw to the flame, the mattress
where they will eat holes in sweaters & exist & be as so.
but someone protested & had her wings ripped;
a curled round tteokbokki: her warm butterfly body
raped into submission all because she liked a girl.
water
but water is so difficult to catch
i know this because 5:16 AM bruised
pool water: hydrogen chloride slaps my face & maybe
it tastes like the green stems of cherry tomatoes or my blood
& i fight forever to stay alive & afloat, the scent running
perfuming me throughout English class & until i
decide to wipe saltiness, flesh-eating strands away.
she
the ripples, watery crowns of soft silver-gold sunlight lashed
in layers beneath the velvet mist & where i want to go
& i bask in it, devour, before the next moment i always know
the sun will fade & never return the same way. always
i know there is no way a butterfly without wings
could fly through falling water.
Bio: Amelia Chang is a Taiwanese American poet from Long Island, New York. When she is not occupied with swim practice or schoolwork, Amelia enjoys lattes & curating a collection of vinyl records. She believes in the heartbreaking power of words-- the kind that feel raw & visceral, that strike something tender within the human heart. Her writing has received multiple honors from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.
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