by Amy Huang
Art by Vivian Huang
Issue: Mirage (Summer 2014)
She recalls those glossy fingernails,
streams of au natural and prima ballerina,
washing across those perfectly filed tips.
A flawless hand, streamlined, elegant.
With each passing season, the nails faded
and the once shimmering colors ebbed away
into a murky, matte bordeaux and overgrown cuticles.
Yet she still continued to cling,
cling to the sapphire oases and naughty nauticals,
hoping to dip her hand into a brimming barbados blue.
But the senescence still oozed through, polluting,
muddying the once smooth nails
on which coat azures and lapis of luxuries cascaded.
Alone, with glamour magazines flipped open
to pages gushing with shimmering nails and the latest trends,
her clouded fingernails trail along the edges
of her numerous jars of nail polish,
circling around her in waves, nearly cracked and dried out,
as she wallows in fanciful memories,
a forgotten island in the middle of an aruba blue.