AUBADE FOR THE APOCALYPTIC SOUL by Alexis Wu

the sky is falling & we love so hard it becomes a hobby. yesterday, i broke the rules. & then i did it again, bruised knees before you again, again. in another life, i’ve washed my hair. this time, i’ve dreamt the ends with oily lips & almost lived to tell the tale. i’ve heard there’s a blue-bandaged baby even in hellfire—we just have to stick around to see the start. if i pressed my face to the road outside, would it blacken & peel & crack or would it linger for longer? if i could last a day in the dark would the survival be enough? in this one, the ending really is the most beautiful part, & we’re all here & sober with stolen moments. in this one, we can live instead of love because the edges fold back instead of rolling. because we really can start. & maybe i can metamorphose enough times to see stars, reinvent myself into iliveyouhood, sit backwards with my toes touching the ground. i said i’d live & then did, & then died, & i loved & i loved & again.

Alexis Wu (alexiswu.carrd.co) is a 14-year-old poet from Long Island. She is a National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Medalist, NCTE First Class Award recipient, SUNHOUSE Summer Writing Mentorship poetry mentee, and Editor-in-Chief and Founder of The Bokeh Review. Her works are published in Aster Lit, Eunoia Review, The Interlochen Review, and more. She dreams of one day changing the world. Find her on Instagram @a.w.underthedeep.poetry.