By Jaden Fong
My legs, a moth
to an ember. My skin
skimming yours—birch
paper wings kindling
flame. Scarlet ruminating
in flickering blackness,
me beaming daffodil,
honey, amber. Being
content with being
preserved in ashes.
Caring for this blanket
the way the moon cares
only for puddles on concrete.
Jaden Fong (he/him) is a writer with a sweet tooth and a soft spot for the whimsical and the peculiar. A two time nominee for the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award, he has won awards in poetry, fiction, and other forms of writing. His writing is most often inspired by the natural world, and in his free time, he likes to spend time in nature, where he frequently and confidently misidentifies every flower he comes across. You can find his work on the Academy of American Poets website at poets.org, Flora Fiction, The Santa Clara Review, Nightingale & Sparrow, Poets’ Choice, and miniskirt magazine, among other places. To see his work on custom tea-stained paper or to contact him, find him on Instagram and Twitter.