The Different Chords of a Melody: “Crush”

the two pomegranate seeds crushed
into autumn stains but your lips
were already berry,
nectar somewhere falling

as a fountain empties itself into
a child’s mouth. You crush
against me, like a deer
who swallows her marbles

as she’s told, the melody ends with a crushing
last beat: the icebox emptied of its meat,
we’re hungry with no more tangerines,
what now?

let us breathe, let us let the pomegranate
drop, crushed into autumn,

let us hunt in the
New England frost and watch
together the fresh apple
cores, crushed into winter

your lips already berry
your face already wet.

Cathy Guo, age 15
Madison, Connecticut

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