Brilliance determines
their order —
a
rainbow of clothes from wall to wall
neat rows and stacks
until the next customer
comes
with a herd of children
who liberate chocolate
bars
from their shiny foil
wrappers
and spill rivers of blue
skirts
down the narrow aisles.
Later, a guest comes to
my house
bearing a rose
replete with thorns as
if to guard
the sunset on the silky
petals.
I marvel at my good
fortune —
his first visit
since the death of his
only son.
As I set the flower in a
vase
he tells me not to
bother with the packet
full of life-extending
powders
for when it fades, it
fades
Shelly Chang lives in Oakland, California and works as
a software engineer for Vector Software.
She studied poetry at the Gotham Writers' Workshop in New York City.