Hometown

Song: 花心 (Flower Heart) by 周华健 (Wakin Chau)

Tousled-hair wild and windswept charm like  
a motherfucker running at me; and boy do you
charm me nervous, charm me hush, charm me
wet and shy and blush; and I want to catch you
graceful, fervent, loving, but I am loving you  
scrawny like a weed, and you are shaking in  
my arms body like a nightclub. Neon signs on
last legs: flash fires crackle street-lining above  
our heads, in our beds, and wherever the hell  
the night wants to take us. God, you charm me  
something ancient, dynastic. Tonight the streets  
arch like rivers rising up over the tops of old city  
walls I wear like skin. I am hot sugar thick stream  
set spinning like amber trickling from your hands  
across marble white into painting on a stick; and  
girl did you kiss me sweet, keep me warm; and  
girl do I shatter flower-bowl, cool down quick –
The memory of you motorcycle-thrums between  
legs, all tousled-hair wild and windswept charm
rickshaw-pulling in the city and arrow-landing  
years like a motherfucker running through me.

Art by Chelsea Rushton

Chelsea Rushton is an artist, illustrator, and designer with a BFA in Creative Writing and an MFA in Visual Art. Her work pushes the limits of what’s real and what’s possible. When she’s not painting, she can usually be found walking in nature or petting other people’s cats. See more of her work at www.chelshotel.com or on Instagram @chelshotel.