Gen Ansong (18)
Litany of Fishbowls
fish brains under the sludgy tips of my fingers and
i doubt this was the nautical coffin it was looking for
orange-yellow scales under the bloody tips of my fingers and
this kind of murder gets real plush and personal
angsty masochist
pops all the pink, swollen hearts orbiting in a toilet-water galaxy
tuna fish girl
wears grape jelly lipstick and a fishbowl over her head
caught in an empty dream
of cold fevers and nebulous surfs
i’m a drunk astronaut floating
when the cosmos clash in love and planets split in two
like soft destruction
i fall victim to the tender horror of fish teeth poking through my skin
with my wet tummy full of
lovesick buzzards instead of midsummer swallowtails
i curl
into a broken womb
into a tarry honeycomb
into a cottonmouth’s hungry jaws
and prick my hollow lips with a barberry thorn because
it’s just a sappy tragedy i continue to kill for
Gen Ansong is a senior at James B. Conant High School. She is an avid member of her school’s writing club and has previously been published in her school’s literary magazine, Tapestry, and in a literary collective called Same Faces. She loves jamming to garage rock, reading confessional poetry, and watching A24 independent films.
Litany of Fishbowls
fish brains under the sludgy tips of my fingers and
i doubt this was the nautical coffin it was looking for
orange-yellow scales under the bloody tips of my fingers and
this kind of murder gets real plush and personal
angsty masochist
pops all the pink, swollen hearts orbiting in a toilet-water galaxy
tuna fish girl
wears grape jelly lipstick and a fishbowl over her head
caught in an empty dream
of cold fevers and nebulous surfs
i’m a drunk astronaut floating
when the cosmos clash in love and planets split in two
like soft destruction
i fall victim to the tender horror of fish teeth poking through my skin
with my wet tummy full of
lovesick buzzards instead of midsummer swallowtails
i curl
into a broken womb
into a tarry honeycomb
into a cottonmouth’s hungry jaws
and prick my hollow lips with a barberry thorn because
it’s just a sappy tragedy i continue to kill for
Gen Ansong is a senior at James B. Conant High School. She is an avid member of her school’s writing club and has previously been published in her school’s literary magazine, Tapestry, and in a literary collective called Same Faces. She loves jamming to garage rock, reading confessional poetry, and watching A24 independent films.