Torso of Air
By Ocean Vuong
Suppose you do change your life.
& the body is more than
a portion of night––sealed
with bruises. Suppose you woke
& found your shadow replaced
by a black wolf. The boy, beautiful
& gone. So you take the knife to the wall
instead. You carve & carve
until a coin of light appears
& you get to look in, at last,
on happiness. The eye
staring back from the other side––
waiting.
Copyright Credit: Ocean Vuong, "Torso of Air" from Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Copyright © 2016 by Ocean Vuong. Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.