Lunar New Year

Brushstrokes of silver

starglow, the anthem of youth harmonizes

with the sustained chords of age The whispers of

twinkling lights uttering secrets,

“don’t tell anyone!”

The world slipping off

my fingertips, fleeting glances of all

that surrounds me I spin, the corners of

the room curling into me, my surroundings tangle

into a cat’s cradle

An unlimited solar system and I’m

the sun Spiraling into rejuvenation, toppling

back to my youth, it tickles my fingertips, its humming

its sweet, light hymn

Music’s steady heartbeat thumps next to

me, propelling me further into

the climaxes of my dance, the catalyst

of my never-ending motion

Invincible, graceful as the air that swoops

between us, The snapshots

taken straight from my pocket, the ones I’ve held

onto for so long. A patchwork quilt of

memories stitched together with the

golden thread of New Years’

A shattering vase of fireworks, into

a million specs of jagged jade shards, gleaming

like treasures. screams, a polished

blade penetrating bodies, thunder spewing

its veins of light, a knife

scraping a dinner plate

Bodies crumble

to the scuffed floor, the taunting chanting

of footsteps of death crescendo, the air weighted

with sharp pain, poison apple blood

seeping, splattering, A scream gasping for

release in the clots in my throat, yet tangled into

the knots in my stomach Rocking into

a tightly condensed

ball, the tablecloth my only shield

A black hole of darkness and

death, threatening to gulp us up, cold, iron bullets

spewing out like snowballs, like its a child’s

playzone, the silly, delicate jewelry box tune still

tinkling, the mini blonde ballerina

still twirling, unbothered

The dark force disappears, yet

the room remains frozen in place, a turgid

state congested with fear

and disbelief so deep, I’m drowning in it. My breath

buried deep into me, unable to climb

past the thick, weighted layers of

piled incredulity and horror, it’s the silence

during naptime, some

might never wake up.

Minutes, hours A flower slowly

unfurling as its colors blossom, a watercolor

touching the page and tainting

white paper with its colors, bleeding

slowly into a vivid color, the sunset

blooming again after the midnight absorbed

all the color, babies taking

their first steps, shaky, unstable.

Two fingers

to my friend’s wrist - only

the solid feeling of her bones, her candlelight

blown out with just a simple breath. My tears

staining her intricately studded dress

forever. But her afterglow, the small spark

after the birthday candles are blown out

lingers, her smoke still swirling

in the air.

The heavy seed, deep in

my stomach arises, starting to take

root, continuing up, a million spiky leaves

and sharp branches, it escapes

my mouth, a sob. A fistful

of sand, allowing those miniscule grains

to slowly fall

out of the cracks of my grip, crumbling

to the ground, layered into

a heap. A marionette let go

after the swoop

of the curtains falling, drooping

to the ground, wooden limbs freed. The last couple

of snowflakes swooshing across

the little world inside the glass ball after

the vigorous shaking of a snowglobe.