Cadence Chung
dryad / dandy
eyes as smudged as turpentine, fixed
by an amateur art restorer
glitter a refuge for the light, she waits
under every shimmering skin, every satin
silk, infamy that money can buy
waits for something to reflect neon, and stain
stain a face like love stains, like iodine, yellow
indented all the way through the hurricane-whorls
of fingertips. lipstick Seconal-red. nails
bone-heavy as a cat’s claws second teeth
second canines still just as ready to grab flesh
just as ready to be wanton
mascara like grave-robbed dirt under her nails
green flaking smears in her earlobes where
earrings drape vomiting out diamantes
fading just as slowly, but surely
as time spits out all beauty
she paints purple rococo blurs onto her shower door
from the toner shampoo that, nonetheless never
gets rid of the malingering ginger streaks
from one stupid night and one very bad dye job
baroque-kitsch like all of those shitty operas
from the ’50s where they went a little too far
with all the candelabras so desperate to taste
the delectability of time’s riches
oh oh she’ll eat your heart out
on Facebook marketplace
engorging herself on abandoned antique-store pearls
slipping them into wine just to watch the way
they explode then she’ll leave
quietly, without a scene nothing but
a grind of crushed molars on the ballroom floor
nearly as pretty as pearls
Cadence Chung is a poet, student, and musician from Wellington. She draws inspiration from Tumblr posts, antique stores, and dead poets. She is always thinking about vampires.