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Brother Portrait, Blurred

Sabrina Guo

Dr. Longhi steps over dead

bodies in rows, covers 

his mouth with a mask 

he’s been using for weeks.

My brothers’ bodies shake, 

mouths agape like fish

gasping, pulsing for air

that can’t be breathed.

My uncle falls to the ground,

face angled towards the sky 

at the corner of the sidewalk,

in front of a closed 

furniture shop. 

Nobody dares approach him.

Supermarket cardboard

stacked around the scene,

a wall—sacrifices

must be made.

Blue uniforms, a blur—

the shriek of wheels, 

the hospital bed rolling down 

the hall, the sharp inhale

of a breath, passing boys, passing

girls, passing women and men

who shake like the last winter firs.

Fever

Sabrina Guo

Six hours ago, I took

Ma’s torn quilt and rolled it

up, just like my tongue 

around a vitamin C gummy. 

I had a fever. Then I gave it 

to my parents. I didn’t 

think I would. It didn’t

hit hard. I drank honeysuckle tea, slept less—

my cat untangled my red earphones.

Three hours ago, I listened 

bed-ridden, to the softening

of footsteps across the white sill:

outside my window. I never thought I’d miss it. 

The sound of 

clean tires rolling over pebbles

engraved in the driveway. Will I

hear it—that ritual of arrival—again?

about the writer

Sabrina Guo is a Syosset High School sophomore from New York. She is the recipient of five National Gold Medals and one Silver Medal, and the Civic Expression Award from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She is the winner of the 2020 Poetry Society of Virginia’s Jenkins Prize and the 2020 Student Poetry Contest. Her work is featured in the Best Teen Writing, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers blog, Hippocrates Prize Anthology, Polyphony Lit, The Phoenix, Canvas Literary Journal, Blue Marble Review, among others. Sabrina is the founder of Long Island Laboring Against COVID-19 (LILAC), an award-winning student-led organization that serves the health care workers and patients community through providing PPE and raising their spirits through artwork, videos, and films. Sabrina is also the founder and CEO of Girl Pride, a global nonprofit that serves migrant and refugee girls’ educational and emotional needs by raising awareness of their situation through the development and showcasing of their creative talents.