Apollo by Alex Choi (18, Virginia)

you never were fond of cheap musicians 
or coffee shop interludes 

rather you had divine taste like 
honeyed ambrosia percolating down the back of your throat 

golden purity tricolating through your veins 
midas would’ve envied your brilliance ​

---

// 

call it a beloved fable 
etched as ink on papyrus 

breath paused -- fingertips tenderly drawn 
eudaemonia as i feel the softness of your palms 

pull on my heart like guitar strings 
just make sure the melody is as sweet as your touch 

vibrations pulsate from my matured chest 
rippling the air in warm resonant notes 

bright like the ripest pick of citrus 
sung from the chords of apollo’s lyre 

play me to your unbounding content 
and lay with me for eternity 
     if eternity truly lasts forever, 
           little did we know 
                eternity is far greater than forever. 

// 

in a past life 
it’s easy to proclaim prophet
when olympus resembles more than a tapestry
and the altar drips with virgin blood 

i trace those palms i've known for a millenia
the same roads voyaged time and again
 
memories like a teetering record scratched by a needle
only to be brought back to desolate plains 

ceased to hear the lyre long ago 
i remain pious nonetheless 

how often does solo begins to sound more
like so low 

apollo i call upon you 
drown my ears with your jarring instrumentals
so i can’t tell the difference 
     between the silence of your touch 
           and the deafness of my heart.