urchin

By Claire Wang, Del Norte High School, '26

Artwork by Leanne Fan, Westview High School, '26

CW: alludes to sexual violence

urchin

mother exists / between the silence and the sea /

frosting fingertips like dusted water // no salt is enough

no soap enough to rinse / the sea / from her pores

/ like a sponge, she says / when you ask about the scars

on her arms / and her neck like matted mascara // youth

likes to agree / it’s brightest at night / between her /

and the moon / and the ocean that tangles her hair /

like the urchins churning / on the sea floor // Poseidon

rechristens her / into less need than lust / these linoleum

tiles still soggy with / salt water from / an enigma /

unsolicited // when memory only sat / in her back pocket like / a

waking nightmare / you existed between song and aversion //

but she still cries for an old innocence / you still flinch at 

the shadows like / an oriole in winter // listen / because /

this was how / mother told us she / lost her period //