Claire O’Shaughnessy
Purpled picante, nectar bested
Pulp sticky-ing my tongue
Drink like it’s nothing, tapioca for tap water
Juice raindrops on shirt-fronts
Swell me in your basin chest
Bite me up and chew me out
Like a seed
Fruit freak caught in your teeth
Kitchen sink, thumbprint press
Pray me to sudden summer
Open elbows to find new music
Something about a thirsty tide drinking all boats?
Future over famine
Find the pit
Then grin your gums
Crest countertop to humble slumber
– After Emma Rain, ‘The Stone Fruit Girl’
Claire O’Shaughnessy is a second year majoring in Voice & Opera in Bienen and Journalism in Medill. Her hometown is Columbus, Ohio, a place she defends and treasures fiercely. If at any given moment she isn’t listening to music, she’s probably making it. She wants to spend her life telling stories.
