The Earth as Clay
WRITTEN BY KYLE TIANSHI
Her lungs are mine. Aching. We
breathe in. Out. The same air. Speak
with one mouth, lips parted, touch.
Look upon my Creation. Silkworms nesting
in the mulberry leaves. The murmur and
rustle of her hand across the treetops. Dew,
coalescing like jewelry onto her fingertips.
But then they grew bored of it.
Made pyres from her bark and
took turns throwing each other in.
The Trojans, disguised with her cloak.
Crusaders slaughtering under my name.
Didn’t think the smoke would hang so
thickly in the air, for so long.
We hold our breath.
So maybe we’ll remake it, reshape
the mountains like soft clay, unfurl
the hunchback willows into something
beautiful again, run our fingers through
the gnarled roots, cover over all the
blisters and scars. And maybe we’ll wait
nine months and rebirth them too.
Kyle Tianshi is a seventeen-year-old student from San Diego, California. He wrote his first book at seven and has since self-published five novels. He directed a documentary, Rinna, about a Ukranian immigrant classical pianist, and composed the soundtrack for his film using excerpts from classical Russian music. Kyle has a minor planet named after him by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory for his research on detecting microplastics in water. In his free time, Kyle enjoys learning Latin, reading Christopher Nolan screenplays, watching baby Pekingese videos, and cooking good food.