a roadtrip of felled resurrection/reconnection
WRITTEN BY RACHEL XU
the requiem of spring is a mordent in
pitches of aureate nimbi and thundering magma;
it’s obsidian that grates against the rough callouses of
graying artisans who swelter below hollowed pavilions
in midsummer, bronze-skinned and untiring, their
wood chips are ethereal clay to mold into aesthetic ether,
tailor-made for higher melodies,
soliloquy on the twelfth opening night as the oratorio leaps
in fervent grace, breathing drafty spirits into a sordid aria
like the jukebox warbling on her secondhand playlist as
we coast aimlessly along waterfront I-95,
staring at your gossamer-tinted reflection in the car window and
overlooking graffiti mired against deserted freights below –
in the trunk, dad’s welding kit roused forth with clunky groans;
adjacent, my sheet music is pleated between crumpling
stage play scripts, sheltered in good faith from mellow foliage
and ruby-throated mirth, an incandescent flicker buoyant over
the wick of terracotta flush and/or postponed (im)possibilities
for the edge of tomorrow this family has not yet un(dis)covered
Rachel Xu is a high school student who enjoys reading, writing, sketching, and playing badminton in her free time. She has been published in various anthologies such as Hysteria, Live Poets Society of NJ, Poetic Power, Academy Press, Teen Ink, etc.