Competition

Orange Blood
by Clara Fannjiang
Davis, CA, USA

i do not know where
you,
fate,
are.
dream-spun heart, your imperfections like freckles
the syllables floating off my tongue
the pencil of your hand, ethereal as harbingers go
the color: thick bloody orange

writing down my destiny
cringing rice paper that cannot be torn
so many, too many letters

our ribbon chains were broken
whetted meat cleaver, so venal in nature
a king's jealousy, the leech of my eye
my footprints became excuses; your dying blood, my food
sand buried memory. fire devoured sand

my black-ink eyes now re-spell the echoes
ringing against wall, roof, home, out
cannot grab shadows anymore
bone fingers seek my fate here, once again
at crossroads, the broken stitches etching a memory

i will find your pencil, swallow lead. spit poison.
stripped of dignity, white nakedness as
my sound of reception.

whisper
scream
write
a fate, a life, a soul. mine, my own
yestertodmorrow, never too late
my time to live.