ISSN: 1941-4137
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
POETRY THAT ENACTS THE ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE PURITY OF GLASS
Sarah Feng is 14 and a sophomore at Pinewood School. A National Poetry Quarterly Best of Issue scholarship recipient, she is the 2017 Critical Pass Junior Poet, a 2017 Teen Sequin, the author of 2 self-published novels, and a 2017 Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship poetry mentee. Her work has been recognized by the regional Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Willamette Writers, and the California Coastal Commission, among others, and has been published/is forthcoming in the Storm Cellar Quarterly, Up the Staircase Quarterly, TAB: A Journal of Poetry & Poetics, the Rising Phoenix Review, and the Los Angeles Times Insider. She helps at various publications including the Sooth Swarm Journal and L'Éphémère Review.
Painting of My Old Apartment in Union City, CA
Give, and give,
and give,
the girl tells her mother.
She cuts off
a lock of her baby hair,
drops it on the apartment floor.
The girl's palms are empty now.
The mother, agreeing, fills the space
with her own hands.
Every hair lands.
Every zipper line snaps out
from a windbreaker.
Their apartment is like this:
a little spine snaking into
their fists, filled with
old cloth and toy bibs.
A bowl of fish wilts in the corner.
Heaps of fabric
lie in the backs of bedrooms,
picked at every morning.
The bathroom always stays
one toothbrush too short,
the smell of oil
hanging onto the soap suds.
In a few days, the father
brings in several bins.
In them, a pacifier
caked in old rice. Baby hairs,
unread picture books,
and an eyelash.
The girl,
teething, pulls them apart.
She throws the milky bits
around the apartment.
They knock aside tickets and sighs.
And some other things
she didn't deserve
till she is curled on the floor.
Take. And take.
The apartment does not end
till their garage sale starts.
Years later, the father collects
their things in a bin
for the next family.
When the tenant asks for rent,
the girl,
who has collected
every hair, every breath,
pours him a wine glass
of tea.
She asks him to give.
To build a chrysalis
out of bits of her hair.
Glass: A Journal of Poetry is published monthly by Glass Poetry Press.
All contents © the author.
All contents © the author.
