Arya Vishin

STOPLIGHT PARROTFISH SINGS OF FREEDOM

first of all: I change. I
shift. I move. I swim. I
blue. I green. I orange.
I yellow. I pink. I shine. I
sparkle. I shimmer. I destine.
I search. I find. I answer. I
swim. I iridesce. I hover. I
pink yellow orange green blue.
I never red! I never red.
I change. I change. I
change!

GENDERING SKELETONS

listen:  imagine we were   born in each other’s
bodies.  sorry if this   manner   of   thinking is
backwards  but   you   & I   get   it  and  that’s
enough  for  me.   imagine  that   millions   of
years     in    the     future     they      find    our
perfectly-preserved  amber-trapped   thoraxes
and think huh, there  must’ve been a  mistake.
eastern   cultural   differences,   they’ll   guess.
something     wrong     here—or      something
impossibly,    unmistakably   right.   or   both.
listen:  I   have this  theory that  we were born
from   the    same   rib    and   that’s   why   we
understand   each   other   and   how   we   got
mixed  up  somewhere  along the way. put that
pseudo-science  in the  next  medical  study to
be  torn apart  by the  new york times, right? I
can  take  it.    we’ve    been    through    worse.
maybe   they’ll   chalk   it   up   to asianness  &
refuse   to make   sense   of  our   weird   bones.
listen:    here’s what I think.    at the end  of the
day,   when they bury  those   thoracic cages,  it
doesn’t matter  which came   from  who.   if we
loved   how   we   lived I’ll be happy to be dead
&   I’ll be happy   to have been there   with you
no matter what.

Arya Vishin is a mixed Kashmiri-American & Jewish writer from San Jose, California. He is currently studying English & South Asian Studies @ UC Berkeley. He can be found on Twitter @thewodensfang.