An ode to your last breath

Nha Nguyen, who is an aspiring high school student, recently found her passion in poetry and literature. She enjoys writing about morbid and cryptic elements. was selected as the Public Winner in Temple's Creative Writing Contest, summer 2020.

An on/off switch

Your last sensory memories

A nostalgic egg
Cracked
As the slimy yolk hovered on the scorching pan
The auditory pleasing
Sizzling
Popping-bubble-wrap-like sound
Or cracking oneself's knuckles
Sitting by the windowpane
Pitter patter 
On the rooftop from the last night rain
The only view of sunset from afar
The colorful inflation of indigo, orange, and purple
Hot steam fogs up the lens 
Tantalizingly aromatic of freshly brewed coffee
Newly cut wood smell
Caramelized
Taste buds blossomed
The luminous dark brown chocolate cascading on layers of spongy cake
Jagged drizzle on the top
You last devoured with ignorance 

Abrupt flow of oxygen to the brain
Sliced it open, mesmerized
Deep red fluid
Scooped it out, to feel
Yet luscious in its liquidity
Drained to paralysis
Muscle slackened
Within sludgy flesh
Compact in an amputated corpse
Motionless dived into abyss of despair
Strained half-open eyes 
Squinted to see the face of the accused 
A smile of destructive fascination
But unfortunate and classic it was
You were stoned to death from behind

What so-called: afterlife
Heard sensational welcoming light draws you towards your loved ones
The stream of consciousness 
Lusciously flows
But here 
The thought of you still lives on
That all matters.

335

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