august

2022

august. the most summery month of this perpetual 夏天 (summer)

八月 but it passes by in a haze of 七月 smoke and teenage drama

time drips on, 又慢又软 (slow and sticky), melting into a paper-mache

of kiam chye (crumpled) worksheets and 笔记, dripping blood

red like the flags we run to, stop signs we ignore, lights we speed past

(of course, metaphorical. like we learned in late afternoon literature lessons)

but blue like the deoxygenated blood in our biology notes, blue when it rains

(积雨云 – cumulonimbus clouds), we sit on the swings, letting it soak out skin

少年不识愁滋味 but we play anime protagonist between classes, wallowing

we have left the easy 青春 (youth, 春 – spring) and can only watch from block C

see ourselves in our juniors, see us as children again, under clear skies, only playing

(耍, et. 傻 stupid) at being teenagers, with the sunshine in our eyes, trading laughs

perhaps, we are still children, easy to hurt, quick to cry, a little foolish (笨)

when it comes to feelings (感情), when it comes to communication (沟通)

one word, five syllables; differentiation works itself easily into our vocabularies

but this one 留在门口里, never fully understood, as we stand on the threshold,

neither here nor there, halfway out the door, letting the liminal (阈限) space of being

a teenager, slip by like august.