She eats away the evening by Hilary Tam (14, Hong Kong)

When the twilight melts at the tip of your
Tongue,          swirling
              shades          
                            of
​​        violet, you gulp
​The reflections of oaks in the water
​Like a greedy animal sucks at the teat of its mother

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This hunger, it
Consumes you
It isn’t you
The jagged yew snakes it arms around your waist, vultures
Swooping down at charcoal-eyed prey
Cicadas sing your elegy; there is such haunting dignity
In flesh that still moves without purpose, hashed lips mouthing hymns to a wet sky that was
​thrust into her mouth like a gag
Many moons ago, on the day
Her world left the haven of maternal red
Pupils dilated pink in a perpetual sunset;
Honey, maybe the way you shake
A lover’s name between your teeth can quench the thirst;
Maybe you can’t help it–poets ripping apart embers of an autumn wind
Maybe after you tear open the horizon and lick clean its bones,
Hold the gilded sand hostage between your toes and lunge, howling, at the sunfire
anointing the murmurations of starlings
You can drink the dark and seek asylum
In the echoes of your mania
Dulled by the night ; the sweet forlorn cry of a mockingbird 





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