Cathy Shang

All the Beautiful Broken Things

The flowers that I cannot grow
(they’re pressed between book pages somewhere)
The porcelain vase that cracked in the kiln
(i have it on a shelf, the lavender glaze is still my favorite)
The songs I will never finish writing
(i wish i passed my music theory exam)
The shoelaces that I can never tie properly (i often run with them undone)
The shattered jar of jasmine syrup I dropped on my foot
(it looked somehow celestial in the 5 o’clock light)
The pictures that I can never paint
(i can never mix the right colors, my hands are always shaking)
The words that will never be said (my poems sounds better on paper)
The notes I can never sing (I wish I wasn’t tone deaf)
The fear of disturbing what has already been cultivated
(i wonder how much love in this world hides behind silence)

Cathy Shang is a sophomore studying in Shanghai. She enjoys creative writing, drawing, filmmaking, and is very active in parliamentary debate.