I know I am alive and convenient.
A piece of the whole. A body
in an ocean of bodies.
A quart of seawater can still be the sea.
I am just a smaller vessel. I know,
you do not understand the language
of my grief. Mistake its sound
for sloshing, my silence for willingness
always grasping at surfaces, the circumference
of a wrist — trying to comprehend
a smaller infinity.
Jasmine Cui is eighteen years old and is majoring in Political Science, Economics, and Chemistry at SUNY Geneseo. She aspires to be like her parents who are first-generation Americans that fought an extraordinary battle for their place in this country. She is the founder and co-Editor in Chief of The Ellis Review.