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a space for youth writing on mental health & identity
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a space for youth writing on mental health & identity
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![]() [Trigger warning: domestic abuse] We are walking through the city tonight, just you and me watching stars unfurl under a blanket of ebony. The buildings are aglow with light: bodegas cramped with cheery customers and opera music streaming from hidden corners. At night, the city overflows with opportunity, drawing people out of their apartment buildings and into the dark. As we walk down Times Square, the moonlight catches on your dimples and softens your smile. What once was heavy hand and lashing belt has transformed into loving father and devoted husband; you are simply one in eight billion, reduced to a number on a textbook. (You are not bleeding from the knuckles nor slamming the front door behind you, not tonight.) You point out the late night pizza shops brimming with customers on their way home from work, the flood of voices piling on one another in a ceaseless hum. If we get close enough, I can almost smell the tantalizing blend of baked dough and olive oil. (If I get close enough to you, I can smell the beer on your breath, your weeks of absence pinned to the missing poster Mom put up last week.) The soft willow trees are dancing in the wind like ballerinas, shedding their almond-shaped leaves in soft flutters against the crosswalk. Your soft chuckles are barely audible against the blustering breeze. For a second, I wonder if it is possible to take a snapshot of this brief moment in time so that I can stitch it into the chambers of my heart; visit it time and time again until the memory seeps into my fibers. I want to have this living proof of your innocence. Prove to me that I am hallucinating each time you tear open my flesh with your bare hands. But for now, I simply smile and laugh at your attempted jokes, watch as the billboard lights cast long fragmented beams into the city. It seems I play the role of the forgetful daughter all too well. Grace Zhang (she/her) is a 16-year-old high school junior from the United States. Her work has been recognized in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and Houston Legislative Essay Contest. She is an editor for Polyphony Lit and EIC of The Lunar Journal. Besides writing, she enjoys making new playlists on Spotify, grape hi-chews, and mystery novels
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Unless otherwise noted, all pictures used are open-source images in the public domain. Archives
May 2023
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