top of page

love letter to a girl whose name ends in i

Josephine Wu

because summer rippled through

our wrists like a


disease, speckled and honest.

With breath broken over your


splintered lip, we sipped lemonade to ribbon our


sourness into ribcage, caramelize

fruit into catastrophe. And


chin chin, a Nigerian snack we let

crackle over our tongues,


reminds you of so many

beautiful things:


your mother baptized into

a diamond of water,

its viscosity akin to

tissued egg; and


the moon, a hard

fried thing


pearling porcelain when

left in heat. It


flosses through my gums like

qián, meaning money,


or the body part I wish to

surgery away: flesh just


a vacancy of incisions

plasticizing into a


compostable Mona Lisa.

How lovelorn, how love


lost us teenagers can

be, for I


imagine a chapel tented with

wisteria and origami cranes –


creased wings, a

capricious way to clip


flight – and knife wounds

tweezed out of stained


glass. Under the

pews, Michelangelo’s


David filed into

folklore: a block


of marble

shedding. Your


white dress swanned into a

crescent and the lace


petering into starlight,

I think of how memories


only crystallize if they

mean something. I found


a ring off of Pinterest even though

I didn’t know which one of us would


propose: it doesn’t matter, I suppose,

so long as we both agree to carve out


a gap in our stomachs in the

shape of a prayer. The last


letter of your name

ending in i,


and I, dreaming

in mirrors,


desire.



Illustration by Deborah Han

 

Josephine Wu


Comments


THE GEORGETOWN INDEPENDENT

Contact Us

Follow Us

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • White Instagram Icon

Members Login

The Georgetown Independent

409 Leavey Center Georgetown University Box 571069 Washington, D.C. 20057 Telephone: (202) 687-6954

 

E-mail: indy@georgetown.edu

Sections

Articles are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or staff of The Independent or the administration, faculty or students of Georgetown University.

The Independent encourages letters to the editor, which should not exceed 500 words. The Independent reserves the right to edit for length and style. Advertising information and rates available upon request.

 

The Independent is composed on Adobe InDesign and printed by Heritage Printing, Signs & Displays, Washington, DC.

Indy Logo-01 copy.png

©2017 BY THE GEORGETOWN INDEPENDENT. PROUDLY CREATED WITH WIX.COM

bottom of page