fallen angel
WRITTEN BY MATT HSU
Initially published in the Galliard International Review
his wings were clipped on a tuesday
a belated christmas gift. there was gold
on his hips and bamboo strapped to his back.
he could draw picasso with no hands
and best anyone at basketball. mom
carried him home on a throne of jade and cobwebs
buffed with seaweed, he planted a flag
at the top of the slide. middle fingers up and reigning
with a double-barrelled gun. he knew how many seconds
were in three hours (more than ten thousand)
and he sprinted faster than all the girls, even
when wearing khakis. just like harry potter he
had black hair and round glasses
so of course he was the chosen one
with sharpie he spelled it out
he would dominate in seven different
languages, including chinese and russian
and release honeybees into the skies
it was prophesied because it was written on cream-
colored paper, he told himself
rubbing the asphalt off his elbows
after eleven years the sun stopped
shining on his shoulders. it was strange and certainly
quite uncomfortable – the rice cakes he sold
in his backyard went stale and the stuffed manatees
began jumping from his bed and for the first time
his knees hurt from his tumble to earth
his billboards were ripped down by seagulls
from the wire frames spilled blood, deemed
tasty by the gulls. they painted over his rainbow
with black tar, sewed his teeth together with golden
spool, smothered him with perfume and paychecks
and fastened a wristwatch around his neck
he walks with two feet, now
burning tteok and scallions in the pan and
eating them with a soup spoon. at midnight
his coven is lined with pearls and broken
pencils. he sings hymns and takes off his shirt
spreading citrus over the scars of
God’s fallen angel
Matt Hsu is a junior at San Francisco University High School in San Francisco, California. He works as a poetry/prose editor at Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine and The Formula. Currently he's working on a new adult novel about a lonely assassin. In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis and eating dark chocolate.