Quinn Lui
poem pinned out on the dissection tray
set all your wolves to ru(i)n this city. i’m
used enough to checking for blood under my nails
in the morning, so believe me, i’ll love anybody
who looks at me like that: all splinter-eyed,
the distant curiosity of the predator born
into the hunt. smile red-tinged by the light
of your teeth. i don’t trust anyone else with this
so it has to be you, fingers pressed smooth
over the sun-point at the temple. in theory,
the first time your house tries to kill you
it will use the gentlest way it knows. but i’ve met
all these kinds of glass: flight flayed open, pressed flat
and pinned down. pierce a body the right way
and it will spill light. i know i chose dissection
over any kinder display. i know
i’d do it again. believe me, i’ve loved everybody
who’s looked at me like that, blood-wrecked gaze
and all. understand: i favour a swift
and shard-sharp breaking. i lack the patience
to wait for rot.
used enough to checking for blood under my nails
in the morning, so believe me, i’ll love anybody
who looks at me like that: all splinter-eyed,
the distant curiosity of the predator born
into the hunt. smile red-tinged by the light
of your teeth. i don’t trust anyone else with this
so it has to be you, fingers pressed smooth
over the sun-point at the temple. in theory,
the first time your house tries to kill you
it will use the gentlest way it knows. but i’ve met
all these kinds of glass: flight flayed open, pressed flat
and pinned down. pierce a body the right way
and it will spill light. i know i chose dissection
over any kinder display. i know
i’d do it again. believe me, i’ve loved everybody
who’s looked at me like that, blood-wrecked gaze
and all. understand: i favour a swift
and shard-sharp breaking. i lack the patience
to wait for rot.
Biography
Quinn Lui is a Chinese-Canadian student who has been described as 1) mostly made up of caffeine and bees and 2) dedicated to being a menace. Their work has appeared in Occulum, Synaesthesia Magazine, Okay Donkey, and elsewhere, and they are the author of the micro-chapbook teething season for new skin (L’Éphémère Review, 2018). You can find them @flowercryptid on Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram, or sharing a fire escape with raccoons.
