In another timeline, I hear the catcall
of a siren & it’s Sunday again.
We are stumble drunk, small gods
in this orbit. I see a man looming
& don’t flinch. The best way to kill fear
is to confront it & so we stress
test our bodies harder
under the angular thrum of a bassline.
Which is to say this has happened before —
we are used to this.

Here, Christine death drops & I don’t

call it bad omen. A shot                                                                           is just a drink,                 a round, the way
. we celebrate how no men
are powerful enough unravel us.

This time,
we pray for love & it doesn’t end
in eulogy.

Jasmine Cui