Sinking Emerald by Lauren Lee (17, South Korea)

She sits in the bathroom stall, for her a land of milk and honey.
Knees to chest and arms the same.

The tiled floors—a rink of her wetting salts.
Salts which drain her weakness, shame.

Burden squirms her body, hands shaking 
like a jolted sky.

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O how she pictures the walls of such a riverside - clutching her to the wind flows, breathing swift assurance.

Taking her away far, far, far…
Swallowing whole numbing scars

‘Please water take my soul’
‘Where my mind may wander in bubbles at horizon’

‘My body thawing in the sun till only my heart remains - glistening
In the moonlight, whatever time of day.’

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