elementia

ice cubes

By Arden Yum

I rub ice cubes on my face in the morning

when it is swollen from soy sauce

or bad dreams or no sleep. The water beneath

my skin is thick like jelly, yellow & responsive

to touch. I lose track of the bones. I want the


goodbye

By Arden Yum

It’s one year later & I still feel you on my shoulders,

breathing vulnerability onto my tender neck.

Two bodies wrapped in desire,

like silver paper, on Christmas.

We breathe each other & call it air.

You say survival, I say


taxonomy of two girls

By Jessica Liu

  how everything had a name in the tender white light


For my mother

By Arden Yum

After Toni Morrison’s Beloved

 

Mother, tell me about the child in your womb.