THINGS YOU SAID IN THE SEASONAL CYCLE WHEN WE WERE BOTH IN LOVE

important considerations: should i cry?
it feels like forever        is grey in my memory
           as if it could be nothing else.
 
i was a dreamer
                       before fate said no.
 
           imagine         killing the thief of time --
if you’re only ruthless you can’t recognize
that she brought justice in her own way
 
afterwards. can you imagine trying
           to be happy                
                              then the cold seeps in
and that grey is           everywhere.
 
           but i'm never gonna be able to say it
enough: memories
 
                           are only correct or incorrect
              as we believe them to be.   
 
i will play       the swan, isolated
and mysterious. let’s hope
                                       i don’t end up in tears.

This is a found poem.

Source: Phrases taken from a conversation between the poet and a friend.

Previously published in Young Poets Network.

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Quinn Lui is a Chinese-Canadian student whose work has appeared in Occulum, Synaesthesia Magazine, Half Mystic, and elsewhere. They are the author of the micro-chapbook teething season for new skin (L’Éphémère Review, 2018). You can find them @flowercryptid on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, or wherever the moon is brightest.