your swaying white tower
knowledge balancing at the top
like something ephemeral
it passes through this world
the ribs lean with the spine
and caged inside something
akin to light
or a pocket of mist
it creaks in its rocking
these bones about to fall
the ribbons you gathered slip out of your fingers
and your something escapes into the sky
–
Tuuli Qin-Terrill’s works have appeared in EXILE, the Inflectionist Review, and the National Writers Series Literary Journal. She is a graduate of Denison University with a BS in biochemistry and currently works as a biopharmaceutical lab analyst in Wisconsin. In her spare time she enjoys reading comics and cooking Korean.
© 2021, Tuuli Qin-Terrill
Halfway Down the Stairs 