The Portland Review

by Stacey Tran

As scale of balance. As object hollowed, emptied of its mass.

As framework, mere externality without substance; as in the outer part.

Received unto windows as indecent allusion; as glass in its two halves.

As if edifice or fabric whose interior, removed is now merely an arc.

As skeletal or concessive to such regression. Remains of a ship

once carved and filled. As in building invites a return unto dust.

As coming away, as departure from the unending hymnal

procession of blues that envelop an egg as it does.

As encasement shed in order to lay the insides bare

As the child or pupa casts its skin; as giving up its outer form.

No longer fixed close, but to divide and to pare.

As an empty case of crushed fruit sits outside in unexpected storms.

As currency. As drinking vessel. As containing pigment of erasure.

Vicissitude of hues; as whiteness in fragments. As opening or as closure.