Penny Wei
Anamnesis
holding:
was shaped like halo.
presses into my skull
ums as a map—
here, a soft war.
open, minutes spilling as yolk.
thawed tender.
—inked into spines, as if unbreakable.
we forget the room.
recite prayers when I sleep—
twice, then forgets itself. I press
The house is breathing
name is lodged
humming.
into a plum and found
It whispered
I listened
bled syrup.
walks backward
with no corners.
like a drawer,
just teeth.
laughing.
We are always
Yesterday, I said our hunger
But heavier. Something that
until it bruises. I trace my
here, a soft war.
Somewhere, a clock splits
I step over it— the floor as
I forget the girl I kissed
Now
You said the vertebrae
the ceiling blinks
my ear to the floor.
in reverse. Someone else's
behind my molars,
Once, I bit
a second mouth inside.
what I almost became.
until my gums
My shadow detaches—
into a room
I open my chest
and inside—
All of them
Penny Wei is a bilingual poet from Shanghai and Massachusetts. Her works are up or forthcoming on Eunoia Review, Aloka, Winged Penny and Fleeting Daze, amongst others.