listen. at the end of the day, you are allowed
to call yourself beautiful. to acknowledge
the ache. darling,
take your roving eyes & bring the food to
your lips. tribute this body. although
it is not always yours, render it loved.
pretend to know it like a child, a saint.
we, you & i, make the mind a maze of
pathways leading back to
not enough. nothing will ever be the
way you want it. someday, we’ll leave this
hell for good. each moment another
agony. love, pick up the spoon. the
chopsticks & bowl. let your demons
rest. today, you will be all that i cannot.
open the windows, let in the light. slice
pieces of fruit. chunks of cake. savor the
tang, the sting of freedom.
Ivi Hua is an Asian-American writer, dreamer, and poet. A Best of the Net nominee, her work is published or forthcoming in Juven, [sub]liminal, and the Eunoia Review among others. In the summer of 2022, she attended the Adroit Journal’s Summer Mentorship as a Poetry mentee. You can find her @livia.writes.stories on Instagram.