Curated by Lisa A. Flowers

Pantone 13-1520: Rose Quartz

Ask why the seas were not made to be pink, for extra consideration

inquiring if they’d like to be repainted. This

is the best question to occupy the wonder with.

Feed curiosity not through the bars of a cage like some mutt,

but on an opal plate. Offer cutlery

that isn’t known to exist. And when she grows her marrow

shall be rich in sugared peach slices as a service

to those who will be taking bites out of her soon. Bathe

her wounds in this same pink sea –

even nature doesn’t mind experimentation –

dress them with last year’s wish lists. That way

she’ll have something to think on while she verifies your star

charts, proposing the longest possible route.

Pantone 15-3919: Serenity

Find comfort at the bottom of a swimming pool, among

the accumulated remains of fizzy soda giggles

and unfulfilled kisses. If that’s not enough find street

lamps that have not yet been robbed of their lightbulb hearts.

Collect them. Absorb the aroma

that only comes from the most intimate rambles

released around dusk. And when you’ve filled up go back

to the bottom of that pool. You’ll find the sun

dances best when the water has swallowed you whole,

telling stories along the way about every flower it has dreamed

of growing. If only someone was considerate enough

to walk past with an ink bottle.

Margaryta Golovchenko is a first year undergrad student at the University of Toronto, Canada, and serves as an editor for The Spectatorial and Half Mystic. Her work has appeared in [parenthetical], In/Words, The Impressment Gang, and other publications, and her debut chapbook, Miso Mermaid, is forthcoming from words(on)pages press this fall. She is an avid tea drinker and a collector of trinkets and curiosities. When not maneuvering around her mountain of to-be-read books she can be found sharing her (mis)adventures on Twitter @Margaryta505.