Christina Sng is the Bram Stoker and Elgin Award-winning author of A Collection of Nightmares and Astropoetry. Her work has appeared in numerous venues worldwide and garnered over 70 awards and nominations, including the 2018 Jane Reichhold International Prize, the 2016 Harold G. Henderson Award, and Honourable Mentions in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and the Best Horror of the Year.
The Division of Twins
I hate that we parted again on bad terms but how could we help it? We have been fighting non-stop since we were born—over toys, over boys, over space, over property, and most of all, over who Mom and Dad loved more. Yet when you boarded that plane to leave the country for good, I knew it would be the last time I ever saw you and I was instantly regretful and sorry. I never saw the oncoming car.
~
Like Birds in the Shimmering Clouds
I made my daughter a promise
When she was born.
She would fly like a bird
And rule the skies,
Live free
From tyranny and terror.
In the sky, she could be
Whatever she wanted to be,
Mold the clouds into birds
And birds into clouds
Till soon she’d’ve made
A whole world of her own.
*
I made my daughter a promise
When she was born.
I would learn to fly like a bird
And rule the skies
Far from the wars and sadness
On the ground.
We’d live free
From tyranny and terror,
Graze the moon
With our growing feathers,
Slumber and dream
Of universes yet unseen
As we drift full circles
Around the sky orb.
*
I made my daughter a promise
When she was born.
We would fly like birds
Free in the sky
Untouched by the terrors
On the ground.
Together
We’d watch the world go by
Through the safe shroud
Of the shimmering clouds.
~
Wild Rose
coalesced cells
star stuff formed
into a baby
youngest child
a long train
of stuffed animals
shooting star
the moon lands
in my teacup
in desolation
the desert flower
blooms
hunter’s moon
the old cat finally
catches her quarry
full circle
I return
to the stars
~
Girlhood
unpretty
the thorns of envy
among roses
chipping away
at my self-esteem
woodpeckers
snow globe
shaking me out
of my comfort zone
Halley’s comet
a road trip
on my own
menopause
my teenage tattoo
now blue