T.S. 1989

there is music in gunfire
there is a mona lisa smile in every
trampled shot body because freedom is sweet
even for a few seconds

we have of that time only icons
that man standing in front hands up
of 秦始皇帝 because hands up don’t shoot isn’t
american or new it’s universal

for oppressed bodies to risk
skin for food in a belly and rights in a soul
because when hands on throats curl into something bitter-
the choice is to choke on vomit

my parents left right before
tanks rolled in mowed leaves of grass
starved sickly bodies because freedom is sweet
enough to go hungry.

By Alicia Liu

Biography:

Alicia Liu is a rising sophomore at Swarthmore College. She’s currently undecided about her course of study, but she enjoys writing, reading, cooking, baking, and photography.