Ivi Hua

Theory of Everything I

In this one, I am sipping sweetness from the mouth
of a wide-open jar. A spring breeze through the window,

a hawk quick-tailed & cutting through the air. The pond
lush with reeds & cattails, has turned into a birdbath—

evaporation so strange, so merciless. I let water spill
through my fingers, my hair splitting into halves & branches.

How the ends thin & break. How I’ve begged for hands to run
through that spill, let small tendernesses rule my heart.

Months later, I will wake up in another city,
disoriented & nonsensical, weeping over the lack. Right

now, the last spring duck is dying, his head resting
against algae-bitten water.  I wish I could tell him, neck

gleaming emerald, that I too know the beginnings of emptiness,
that I have a hypothesis—a supposition lying in the bow of my lip,

a wish cradled in blue-speckled china: every form of love
grows an offshoot. Every pathway ends at this same sunrise,

blood-tinged & so full of softness. In that far city, I know I’ll wake
with saltwater at the lobe of my ear. I know my memory

will run iridescent, near-translucent, sweep into
augmentation—dreaming the unmaking of all beautiful things.

But listen. Out of motion, the wind is still gentle. My body,
despite these quiet violences, remains & remains.

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Ivi Hua is an Asian-American writer, dreamer & poet. A Pushcart Prize & Best of the Net nominee, she is the author of Body, Dissected (kith books, 2024) and co-founder of Young Poets Workshops. Ivi believes in the initiation of change through language, & you can find her @livia.writes.stories on Instagram.