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The Temporariness of Twenty

/ Kyoko Downey/ k. diangelo

Poetry, Visual Arts, Cross Genre — 1 min reading time

No. 5


An illustration of a birthday cake with the number twenty. The poem follows the movement of the smoke, reading: 'my youth slips away in waxy ribbons cascading down a child-bearing body in curves assured by feminine maturity as if vigor is the flame forcing its way through me to my middle / classmates, friends and the remnants of lovers borne of that fire come to a singe, curling into smoky wisps like the breath of all that has passed me, returning back to my lungs only after being blown away / maybe I was that metaphorical fire, revered for the beauty of inferno and brightness, pardoned for the destruction and burns but now, at twenty, / I am the candle and the wick is my skeleton, bones withering, melting into a pool of me-scented essence, surrendering myself to time, to serve with like and burn but a moment.'

This work belongs to Kyoko Downey/ k. diangelo ©
Copy, reproduction, and modification are not permitted without permission

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