3-Color Gradient Background

Paprika Xu


Designer / once led product design at Canva / now part of Common 而間, a small co-op with heart / growing a root in exile, tending gardens in Lutruwita / sensing threshold, whirls me in common spirals / remembering breath, a short talk of faith
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The World (XXI)


Oct 6, 2024  6:49pm

For Olivia

some October days
some skies so within reach
I take one step higher
as tall as the crabapple
olives now at my eye level
time, how things grow
from north to south
to watch as west facing sun
glides over the earth
a temperate glow
time, two weeks a lifetime of bloom
each spell an irretrievable pile of ashes
scattered to be gathered
a tree reaaranged into a stack of broken pillars
some bones, etched into a body of water, deep
time, monument for the room full of hands
clings to everything
understands nothing
holy as the body of water to be broken
down in heat, a contraption of infinity
time, effervescence of your elemental nature
yesterday was
tomorrow never is
each morning you bat your eyelashes the very first time
the world awakes in a gasp
for air




Obelisk


Jul 12, 2024  12:26am

i.
heaven is a long way to go
i collect these thoughts
climb up the revolving clouds
same way my frail body will climb over you
somehow, heaven knows that i was timid
time did not make me fearless
the present of age is that things end
        things fall apart
ripped, pulled, twisted, then turned
velvet cotton floss spun over these ridges
silver quicksand pounced into the black lake
for a glimpse of beauty
in you            i was silent for years

ii.
when he sings
“most people are gone”
all i hear was most people are
        gods
particles forsaken by the black holes
emitting what it fails to engulf
pulsing between thresholds 
splitting dissonance
quivering our reflections
in an irrevocable minute
for a whirlwind climax
with you            i absorb the shock of being

iii.
i sense
since our last departure
your heartstrings strengthened 
my tongue relaxed
every collision births the possibility
of another universe being born
for your brilliancy may wander
        all doors ajar
i take my cue from the lake
my fate as a fixed star
to distill, condensate, evaporate
for an annihilation upon meeting the eyes
of you            i agape with wonder

iv.
when most are gone
and our moon is new
opalescent disk floating
incandescent
against a blazing backdrop so vast
gods so infinitesimal
        unmarred
yet this sun is no threat
i return home, into you
               as i enter the atmosphere    
                       i burn off layer by layer




Her Spins


August 4, 2024  2:27pm
For Donna Leake

She’s the magic
Sonic mystery
a note that bends and blends
Seven years in a spin
Nostalgia in a two-step swing
Folk song in foreign tongues
From the mountainous to tropical bliss
Southwest — Southeast
singing
the impossibility of July
Baseline story, kick drum
times history

If i catch her spins again in August
would this be forever?




~ ~


July 18, 2024  10:03pm
frosty coin
now a velvet glow
reflections
a liquid mystery




離離 Shimmering


Aug 16, 2023

問玻璃陰影的問題
你的未來在哪顆星
綿綿林夕

天台抓一隻螢火蟲
放喝一半的啤酒瓶
誰家燈火
離離

畫一個圓在空氣裡
讓想出的出進的進
青苔淋雨

火海浪飲沙的過去
空調水聽寓言結晶
未果陰晴

離離

影子醒著看我喝醉
下個瞬間一閃而過
掉進沙里




Heart Rock


Jul 3, 2024  6:54pm

our rear tyre got a pinky size puncture
on the gravel roads that led us astray
pressure built up in the front seats
and leaked out from the back
fear is seldom wise and never kind
then we saw no seals
now in desperate need of sealants
a land bound miracle born out of a ocean myth
to put our air borne troubles
behind these waving hairs and icy ears
go where the wind goes
across the Atlantic, i hope
into the hand that holds tchotchkes
a rock
the fire opal of my heart




空想的餘地 Threads in a Cloud


Sep 1, 2023  Midnight

想想此刻
無聲無息是雲
變幻是心
想想你帶來的
沈默便捷
和你留下的
一望無際
空想的餘地




Moonrise Lisboa


Sep 18, 2023 1:23am

it was a sunset in quiet everness
i whispered
how did the sun go
beating through your waving leaves
cloaking the entire sky blue
calling for flights of song
shutting a certain door
echoing neverness
and not
make a sound

it was a sunset
it does what time happens to it
as it happens
there, a gust of wind blew
all my gloaming
away




Sun Sets at the Westernmost Edge


11 June 2024  12:04am
Why do I even want to rewrite the past
Turbulent time calls for extreme measures
Learning to love my questions
Is its own adventure

Further
Your agates enclose a half written bitter
The same insignificance has a new look
If I’m honest — your little girl’s jealousy
Writes a better hook

Good
For a moment, sky was all purple
King spoke a new language, nonverbal
Fate drew a semi circle
You drove, I held a vigil

Before I go
This love I can never repay
This affinity is infinite, and this you know
This new ink on my blue skin
Begins to glow




August 22


Aug 22, 2023

Emotionally

burnt out 
after
a home
went adrift
in Europe summer
and my tree hole got filled
up in
a skyless moon cycle
where my people slept
tucking my heart
away
from my poor damp body
saturated still
by the stars you lined up
on a whim