"Bubble Tea" by Grace Zhang
sweet tapioca pearls doused in syrup,
the
taste of light frothy cream melting in your mouth
graced with a ring of bitter assam tea:
what more could you want
when i gave you my scope of infinity
in a little clear bottle?
maybe you should read your texts a little more,
notice all the times you left me on read.
or, sure, go ahead and turn your read receipts off.
let the world know that we are no longer a power couple because you hadn’t seemed to realize when
your lips suddenly purse,
a wrangled gasp burning on its way out.
i hand you my love in a jar and you take it,
so desperate for forgiveness that you would
ignore the concave husk that is your heart,
the countless times you snatched glances across your shoulder, hoping i wouldn’t notice your pitiful conversations,
the taptaptap of marble fingers writing sonnets to
the other girl.
i hand you my love in a jar,
that sweet confetti milkshake bursting with
caramelized tapioca,
and for one second you take it,
your convenient intolerance to lactose slipping your mind: fitting, isn’t it?
that you would forget and forget and forget and then finally forgive.
i handed you my love in a jar and now i take it back i take back that sweet bubble tea
and watch
wordless
as you convulse on the ground,
milk foaming at your throat.
a laugh burns in my throat and i swallow it down
like sickeningly sweet cough drops.
i collect my love in a jar,
that sweet irresistible honey,
and leave like rhett butler
because truthfully,
i couldn’t give a damn.
the
taste of light frothy cream melting in your mouth
graced with a ring of bitter assam tea:
what more could you want
when i gave you my scope of infinity
in a little clear bottle?
maybe you should read your texts a little more,
notice all the times you left me on read.
or, sure, go ahead and turn your read receipts off.
let the world know that we are no longer a power couple because you hadn’t seemed to realize when
your lips suddenly purse,
a wrangled gasp burning on its way out.
i hand you my love in a jar and you take it,
so desperate for forgiveness that you would
ignore the concave husk that is your heart,
the countless times you snatched glances across your shoulder, hoping i wouldn’t notice your pitiful conversations,
the taptaptap of marble fingers writing sonnets to
the other girl.
i hand you my love in a jar,
that sweet confetti milkshake bursting with
caramelized tapioca,
and for one second you take it,
your convenient intolerance to lactose slipping your mind: fitting, isn’t it?
that you would forget and forget and forget and then finally forgive.
i handed you my love in a jar and now i take it back i take back that sweet bubble tea
and watch
wordless
as you convulse on the ground,
milk foaming at your throat.
a laugh burns in my throat and i swallow it down
like sickeningly sweet cough drops.
i collect my love in a jar,
that sweet irresistible honey,
and leave like rhett butler
because truthfully,
i couldn’t give a damn.
Grace Zhang is a fourteen-year-old freshman in high school with a passion for writing.