platonic romances
i’ve been daydreaming during my water breaks, thinking about
who i’ll hug tomorrow, whose collarbone will cup my cheek.
i want to walk through the mist of 9 pm with someone, the both of
us solemn as sinners. i want us to hold hands and for them to understand
my unvoiced thoughts as we walk in tandem: crack this imperfect night open
with me, like an egg that splinters its own shell into the yolk.
//
give me more postcards, will you? let us be more archaic, more intentional
with our love. hand them to me with your slightly smudged but uniform scrawl
on the back, your heart fashioned in blue ink, my heart soft-locked behind
the next level. cross the boundary with me, or let it sit, & we’ll return to
our respective homes each winter break while not forgetting the slope
of each other’s wrists.
you feel like a cup of warm milk to me, & i’ve been ready
to dissolve.
Ashley Wang is a Chinese American writer living in Houston and a poetry editor for R2: The Rice Review. She participates in NaPoWriMo each year and likes using it as a disjointed journal of sorts. Her work is featured in Stone of Madness Press, The Ekphrastic Review, and Eunoia Review.