wedding bells ring
in the cracks and coves and
crumbles of the castle
the chime churns on
through the brown meadow
through the bushes and buried brides
past the town well—
while a sailboat slowly tips
starboard, and the sounds of
children fade and the seals
retreat, and silent
summer leaves sing their last song—
while the sun takes a last look
and sea salt parches the people above
and the ghost of you
whips through my hair
and whispers silence.
Emily Win is queer cisgender woman of mixed/Asian background. She is earning her MA in Creative Writing and Critical Life from the University of Leeds in Leeds, England, but she apprehensively embraces Toledo, Ohio as her hometown. When she isn’t reading, writing, or editing, she’s getting involved in local communities, swimming laps, or water-coloring from home. She is currently working on a collection of poetry/creative non-fiction that exposes, complicates, and affirms the relationship between womanhood, queerness, and Christianity.