Great Orange Tips

by Jacynth Apora

The air is pastel cyan and bitter
like a stranger in the spring.
Metamorphosing -
You are an invertebrate
a thick skull is your exoskeleton
impenetrable elegance
no backbone
hollow cowardice
a white fuzzy halo,
rose gold wings of a dragonfly,
mouth of a mosquito, the buzz of a siren
preserved by ancient tree resin
turning into my Chinese gold coins.
A picosecond is an eternity
in the five minute lifespan of a mayfly,
this is what you are in my memory.
Jukebox with orange lights
my coins make it play all day long
everything is new, even our old songs.
I get sleepy after crying
so I pull a quilt up to my chin
like a chrysalis, and when it opens
I'm no longer what you abandoned
I'm the butterflies in my stomach.