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Blue Marble Review

Literary Journal for Young Writers

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unbecoming

By Vanessa Chen

i want to be held like water in the hands, which is to say, i don’t want to stay at all. ma says even the riverbeds know i haven’t prayed since last may when the yolks pooled the night sky & i couldn’t tell whether it was dawn or Gods way of telling us that there was never enough time to begin with. today, i grieved over things i’ve never had, left tombstones crisscrossed in every corner of the house even my tears slit rivers into hardwood floors. because on a land where rubble courses through sidewalks like veins, i must breathe in its shame. dive, until my body is swallowed. swim, until i forget the shore exists.

 

 

 

 

 

Vanessa Chen is a high school junior from Vancouver, Canada. Her work has been recognized by the New York Times, Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, League of Canadian Poets, and John Locke Institute, amongst others. When she’s not writing, you can find Vanessa chatting vivaciously with her friends or singing (or screaming) her heart out at concerts.

Filed Under: Poetry Tagged With: Summer 2025

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