bone marrow

‘bone marrow’ by ziyu lin (@ziyulinnn)

the old man works very hard. into a bowl 

he collects the soot of his ancestry with wrinkled fingers,

squeezes oil and sweat out of the waterskin of his tortured body,

mixes them to form an amalgamation of ink that will stain bones.

the old man applies the thick, pasty ointment onto the boy's fragile frame. 

it reeks of rot. 

when the boy finally learns to eat his bone marrow properly,

he will break into two hundred and six pieces, 

colour his lips black trying to understand himself. 

he will ruminate on what the old man left behind: 

these smudges on his skeleton, on these brittle shields 

that he will never know were meant to be white, 

these lips that he will think were meant to be black. 

the boy supposes the old man must love him. 

he is not wrong.

Ziyu lin is a singaporean based poet who aims to employ lyricism in her works. She is currently experimenting with different ways of writing on her instagram, and hopes to publish her first chapbook soon!