Adam Zhou
Undulations
A wave takes shape in the form
of a human body, shrouded in a fiery dress
as if making sure scattered footprints
can at last find in its mind’s cranny, a faint glint.
Like that of a passage stretching out
coarse fingers onto a child’s body.
Perhaps it may find eyes hiding behind
the hours of night. The coarse landscape
you do not seem to know because feeble tears
etch red marks on skin. They never fade,
so let the wave wash against a shadow. Let its body,
vacant and wandering take shape in the form
of a raft, drowned in its own planks,
as if making sure scattered bones, not fully grown,
can at last find in the ocean floor, a home.
Adam Zhou’s poetry has appeared in The Rising Phoenix Review and The Kill List Chronicles. In 2017, Zhou won a National Silver Medal for personal essay and memoir from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers), the longest-running and most prestigious recognition program in the United States for creative teens in grades 7–12. He is a sophomore at the International School Manila.
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