yellow spiders

“A spider’s bag the rest, from which she gives a thread, and still by constant weaving lives.” – Ovid my web is made from juice in my abdomen. the bitter taste of neglect lingers in my mouth before i create patterns of words undeserving of your second glance. they are like cat hair on wool, […]

Featured

at my dinner table

i. in summer i suck oil from the fried skin of duck breast 北京烤鸭 mama whispers to me. i struggle to say it back. ii. dirt green and electric cyan stare at me from the shoe cabinet. all six sizes too big. sister drops the unwanted pairs but my ankle still juts from the slipper […]

everything is grey

but above blends blue bleeds white clouds of sponge yearning for silver folded into sky and by the rolling hills of dull-soot fly seagulls skimming the edge of waves. they plunge and crease into self as fires expunge the past. white lines snaking between blue dye. wind leads and rain trails bare feet dashing by– […]

Vivisepulture

In the morning, you sat patiently in my lap, trying to forget the California heat burning into your white fur and lowered vampire eyes. Your ears perked for a second when my ten-year-old hands pulled you onto the tiled bathroom floor of an air-conditioned basement you hadn’t been in before. But your body, sluggish and […]

perennial spring

the sky is frozen at dawn, masked by gray smokescreens drifting down the neighbors’ sloped rooftops and hovering between the tips of budding lemon trees. a ghost’s breath emerges from my set of parched lips, that i imagine as the hydrangea’s sweet blush rising from my neck, when i reach my fingers towards the fading […]

sister

i was six when i blew out my candles and wished that i was Peter Pan and you were Wendy Darling. for a year, you still laughed with me when we threw out our veggies and watched them swirl in the toilet and hid under the bunk bed that we shared. then you asked for […]

Alhambra

Her eyes watch the gardens, pink roses sprouting from the lips of the Sultan, four white ones remembering the happiest days off his life, red flowers staining the innocence of the throne. Her body plastered with jewels, blue etched on her forehead, gold running down her neck, and tattooed 1000 times over her body are […]

self

anna. palindrome, reflection of two souls and two sets of brown eyes staring into the bathroom mirror as my sister brushes my charcoal hair into a ponytail. a smile that widens when I watch the piano fingers dance across keys, unlocking my world, holding my hand through rocky paths along redwood forests, past the salty […]

CATALYST

2020, I live like yesterday. The same spiraling hum ringing in my ears from the moment I awaken. It’s inescapable, the light streaming through cracks in the window when mom forces them open, sickening stench wafting from the kitchen trash can, dirty laundry piling up in a corner of the closet, unwashed dishes still soiled […]

Found Poem

Inspired by Leah Umansky’s article. Step 1: Find a work space. my bed creates the magic that turns butterflies into words and paints dreams on my glittery pink notebook. the bleeding pen becomes the only companion who understands because she can read and write down my mind. Step 2: Brainstorm. when i learn of a […]