Rite of Daughterhood by Heather Qin (15, New Jersey)

[Content warning: implications of sexual assault]

​Jiejie presses my lips, morganite 
to ruby quills. Damp nibs sew asphalt

skin into freshly fallen snow: a column
of peach glissandos

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Jiejie’s veiled eyes pleat under jade
cavities and melted gossamer

pulled taut— she’s crying. 
Broken nails fasten lilies to my dress

soon to be torn on linen sheets. she cups my face
I turn away, it’s better for both of us.
 
quivering whispers dart up my spine, a sonatina unsullied
of reed-shaped gourds— you look like a pusa

she says, her strained cheeks crinkling 
upward as if Pangu is splitting the sky

we both know guanyin pusa only likes clean girls
she likes girls who can love, and love eternally

to the man they chose, I sell 
my tongue, cull the syllables. They don’t

remember Jiejie’s reed-fan river
dances of seasilk costumes.

When his footsteps fill the space 
between my skin and my ribcage

my lips thaw like ruined cherries, for 
they are no longer mine.



Translation Notes
jiejie - older sister
Pusa - Bodhisattva
Pangu - a figure in Chinese mythology who separated the earth and the heavens
Guanyin pusa - the goddess of mercy in Chinese mythology

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