"After Life : Maybe I'll Recognize Myself When I See You" by Shell Myers
2 poems
Placoderms
Sex was invented by
small fish. Imagine them
in their clumsy, armored
skins, figuring it out for us
358 million years ago: How
to hold on to the other,
how to breathe underwater.
Meiosis is warmer than
mitosis, when a part of you
leaves, the thin arms
of chromosomes uncoiled,
outstretched, asking May I?
Everything is eventually
just about holding on.
Here, at the underwater
hotel, we once learned how
to mark the places we've been
with our tongues. Every time
you find me, we'll remain
as foreign as we are
familiar.
Evolutionary
The leading cause of extinction
for birds is habitat destruction. For each
of my problems, Google offers
at least 42 thousand answers.
There hasn’t been a unique sadness since
Pangea broke up; the pterosaur’s cry
can still be heard across the emerging seas.
At some point, a sock will be washed away
from its other. Do machines
remember all of the pairs they have
ever held? The first fish to feel
her toes wiggle out from behind her gills
was lonelier than I ever will be.
I gave up being a scientist when I realized
I couldn’t translate sorrow
into a series of electrical signals.
We’ll never be able to solve what hurts
the most. A bird without a home
is often killed by high-rise windows.
Imagine the last thing she’ll ever see—her
wide eyes reflecting back, florescence.
Placoderms
Sex was invented by
small fish. Imagine them
in their clumsy, armored
skins, figuring it out for us
358 million years ago: How
to hold on to the other,
how to breathe underwater.
Meiosis is warmer than
mitosis, when a part of you
leaves, the thin arms
of chromosomes uncoiled,
outstretched, asking May I?
Everything is eventually
just about holding on.
Here, at the underwater
hotel, we once learned how
to mark the places we've been
with our tongues. Every time
you find me, we'll remain
as foreign as we are
familiar.
Evolutionary
The leading cause of extinction
for birds is habitat destruction. For each
of my problems, Google offers
at least 42 thousand answers.
There hasn’t been a unique sadness since
Pangea broke up; the pterosaur’s cry
can still be heard across the emerging seas.
At some point, a sock will be washed away
from its other. Do machines
remember all of the pairs they have
ever held? The first fish to feel
her toes wiggle out from behind her gills
was lonelier than I ever will be.
I gave up being a scientist when I realized
I couldn’t translate sorrow
into a series of electrical signals.
We’ll never be able to solve what hurts
the most. A bird without a home
is often killed by high-rise windows.
Imagine the last thing she’ll ever see—her
wide eyes reflecting back, florescence.
Tingyu Liu grew up in Miami and is currently working in Boston as a healthcare strategy consultant. She was a recipient of the Lucille Clifton Scholarship for the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. She has been published in Spillway and The Broken Plate. She has degrees from Pomona College and MIT.
Shell Myers was born in Elyria, Ohio, but now calls Philadelphia their home. They are a queer multimedia artist, voted most artistic in the 8th grade. They are passionate about emotional sensitivity, play, and subverting toxic masculinity. Shell is the Administrative Coordinator of Art & Art History at Drexel University. When they're not putting in that 9 to 5, they make time to create collages, paintings, photographs and drawings. You can find more of their work at www.shellmyers.com
