"At least they know my name. At least I have not pulled myself away, broken them open in the carnage of my insecurity as I escape with only grief in my palms."

Jack-and-Janette

"your croaks already drink the air from my lungs until your survival and my death depend on each other, intertwined like the legs of orpheus and eurydice. at least leave my body behind so daisies bloom from the blades of my shoulders."

crickets, tell me that

"I dangle my Vans and you dangle your Converse over the New York City skyline. If I shifted my weight forward just so, I could take flight — helpless beneath the sun, the girl imprinted in gold just before she falls."

Before I Go

"The little ball will tick-tick-tick along peeling panels in dingy light, spurning the dust of old men, breathing booze-tainted air in the few seconds it takes flight."

roulette

"if i rub your sunset cheeks and let the burnt-orange scaffolding peel away onto my fingers, wrap your arms around me once and stamp your lips onto the nape of my neck like a real lover"

The Aurora Journal Surrealism Poetry Contest Honorable Mention

April Yu

Selected work