Dear Ambrosia Baby, by Alexis Wu

i know it’s too late / i know the sky has fallen / into our laps

and broken both our legs. / but ambrosia baby, the air

turns to kerosene / we’re setting ourselves on fire /

let’s kill the witches, baby / let’s eat the rich / our teeth are

rotted and stained with hunger / i can taste the gold on

your tongue / i have burning words in my mouth / and

if you would just open me up with that scalpel in your hand—

yes, that scalpel / don’t lie to me, i see it, i see it, i... / —i know

our parents broke our hearts / but you don’t have to shove

the shards down my throat / i think it hurts, my dear ambrosia.

doesn’t it hurt? / just because my love is pain / doesn’t mean

it’s scary / i know my veins are vitriol / but isn’t that what makes it

fun? / sit with me. yes, right where we are. relax. / watching the cardinals

fly overhead / watching faces turn to facades / the tartrazine sun drip

down like broken yolk / ambrosia baby, i know we’re only seventeen

but i still feel like we could be anyone. / do anything. / go anywhere

but home— / no, don’t be stupid, it’s not because the memories

like to open my window at night / and kiss my scars with teeth too /

—i’m not a little kid anymore, baby / i’m not scared of the dark but

i am scared of you when you say my name like that / you ignite until

it hurts / the smoke writes our names across the bruised sky / we

cough. / you kiss my lips and stain them red / we keep breathing.

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.