Poem of the Week

Perfect

Adrienne Chung

So that I cannot forget you even as I'm sleeping, I have devised
    a system which establishes in me the object permanence
you so desire in which the number of hours before the sunset
        of our affair is divided by my age in days. Visualized
as a blue cube, for crystallinity, the value is further divided six times,
      once for each of its faces, by the difference of the eleventh digits
of our internet protocol addresses. Should the resultant value
      be of odd denomination, let the degree of axial asymmetry
refract upon it the hue of its corresponding hex code such that
      one face of it achieves an opacity cloudy as the smoke
of our irreconcilable difference. In the event that it is even, it appears
      that I seem to have kept my promise in which I will always remember
the hollow of your hand, forever and just             sliding out of mine.

Adrienne Chung is a Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing fellow. Her writing is forthcoming or has appeared inJoylandandRecliner, and has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
Originally published:
December 22, 2021

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