Apple
(after Aevee Bee)
The apocalypse unpeels
the skin of the world.
First stone unpetals into river-
soft affections and murmurs.
Soil breaks apart and falls away,
lets the old roots breathe
and tangle each other.
Then the ocean leaps into clouds,
laughing and boiling and
aiming thunder toward heaven.
The earth unwinds itself like
an orange rind in lovebound hands.
The first real choice spreads
between mouths, passed lip to lip
like fire, breathed in and out
and striking the treetops violet
and smitten. The three women
of the eschaton help the rest
fall apart. Unzip your bodies
down the small of your back.
Unfold yourself out of the torn
shoulders and cleaved sides.
We didn't leave graves behind.
We didn't even leave bodies.
We just left skins and promises
we were never meant to keep.
the skin of the world.
First stone unpetals into river-
soft affections and murmurs.
Soil breaks apart and falls away,
lets the old roots breathe
and tangle each other.
Then the ocean leaps into clouds,
laughing and boiling and
aiming thunder toward heaven.
The earth unwinds itself like
an orange rind in lovebound hands.
The first real choice spreads
between mouths, passed lip to lip
like fire, breathed in and out
and striking the treetops violet
and smitten. The three women
of the eschaton help the rest
fall apart. Unzip your bodies
down the small of your back.
Unfold yourself out of the torn
shoulders and cleaved sides.
We didn't leave graves behind.
We didn't even leave bodies.
We just left skins and promises
we were never meant to keep.
Nora Hikari is a poet, artist, and Asian-American trans woman based in Philadelphia. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming at Perhappened, ANMLY, and Ogma Magazine, among others, and her poem, "Deer-to-Fish Transition Timeline," has been nominated for the Best of the Net award. Her debut chapbook, Dead Names, is forthcoming at Another New Calligraphy. She can be found on Instagram: @norabot2.0.
Art: Public Domain