diagram a ghost

in January, I was a girl
not a city
streetless and star remote

            friends whistle me up
            in my wolf cap
            saw me and my ceiling
            for rescue

I whittle down my cheekbones

we joyride
flash and cried I couldn’t
be a boy that heard the news
the next daylight
lay swollen
nameless feet march up
            demand my name
            be crunched in each mouth
                        remorseful bite
                        full of fist

Credit

From recombinant (Kelsey Street Press, 2017) by Ching-In Chen. Copyright © 2017 Ching-In Chen. Reprinted by permission of the author.