Before the War

Jane Wong




The bullet lodged itself in
your shoulder, slung and
bandaged with blue ribbon.
The war was at its height; the sky
was bone and the rectangular
moon shook the buildings
with cold. We walked down
these streets during the time
before the war. Before the war,
these streets stitched your eyes
asleep. The bulbs strung up
along the water bloomed
and orbited us.