Some days, I feel myself hardening.
Consider the way branches weigh
themselves heavy with fruit
before breaking so
nearly evenly.
In the hospital, I bring you your
favorite—who is to say
you can’t tell
lilacs from lilies,
holding on from letting go.
Soft scent of
floral fragments to
linger on my sweater
even as I arrive home, shower,
ease my mind, readying myself for sleep.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 25, Issue 1.
Ellen Zhang is a student at Harvard Medical School who has studied under Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham, poet Rosebud Ben-Oni, and poet Josh Bell. She has been recognized by the 2022 DeBakey Poetry Prize, 2022 Dibase Poetry Contest, and as 2019 National Student Poet Semifinalist. Her works appear or are forthcoming in Rappahannock Review, COUNTERCLOCK journal, Hekton International, and elsewhere. She received a BA in Integrative Biology from Harvard College in 2019.
See all items about Ellen Zhang
