erasure is
conviction boiling / at the line of screams
over autumn bruises / our faces
caged in river / this is where i weave ruses
& tell you how i collect rust in the barrel
of my throat / when i look you are de-aging
/ permafrost on lips / pretend that
only the earth is chapped & we are not
full of fangs / bottle-glass for teeth while
you mourn our bodies long buried
in a windowless room / a pool of slaughter
tugs at my ankles / garden snakes coil ‘round calves
/ i lose step & watch
the whining of wings: blue jays bleed open
egg shells & fall out of the sky
/ what kind of death omen / tastes like apple cider?
requiems have no place here:
remember softness / tell me how you
fractured your arm singing from
the cliffside / did you taste the spill
of ocean like
grandiose rainfall or
did you drown in its yolk? / i ask
what you found on the hillside
& you lie / saying / nothing.
Stephanie Chang is a fifteen-year-old high school student from Vancouver, BC. Her work has appeared in The Penn Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, and Horn & Ivory zine. When not writing, she enjoys competing in debate tournaments.