2 poems

By daniel liu

Lake Highland Preparatory School

Two Johns Have A Heart-To-Heart Moment On The Border

Dearest. You have held my hair in your hands for too long.
This black python has swallowed your fingers whole. That is
to say I have made a home between your tongue and teeth and
you have unhinged your jaw to do this. How easily do iron-eyed
men turn into the softened edges of fingertips? I hope I have not
made you bitter with regret. Rancid fruit has run wet and sticky
over our cheeks. This empty grove of a land has been ours to eat
and ours to cry over. I have decided that I will sink into the ground.
I will sink into the ground like wolves sinking their teeth into the
body of its prey. Violently, hungrily, I will seek deeper earth.
I hope you can forgive me. I hope these countries will remember us.

 

The Body

Mama, I say, except it doesn’t mean mother.
The cold touch of a cadaver sticks with you
like how sticky candy fills every crevice of your teeth.
Grandma told me the dim lights were meant for
burying. On the metal pedestal, I think that
you have too many bones. I cut and dissect the
past tense. I think that I have too many organs.
I ask and I ask and the frayed edges of your limbs
don’t come back to life. The whiteness is
excruciating.

 
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daniel liu

Daniel Liu is a teen writer in Orlando, FL. His work has been featured or is forthcoming in The Paper Crane Journal, Lanke Review, and Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine. He is the winner of the Page15 High School Writing contest. In his free time, he enjoys playing the cello and preparing for debate tournaments.