“One Nine Five O Beaver Street”

the gold bells & the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe — March 10, 1776

the saucer in my fingers rattles
back & forth like Chimes & Pendulum
oolong seeping on my tongue
the owner’s daughter sweeps
sullen with a swollen stomach
bounces with a bowl of Peking
salted soy & water-stained cutlery
etched calluses on a blunt knife
pomegranate dripping down apron
uterine bleeding
juiced therefore her Peking tangs sweeter

if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal — May 31, 1859

tercet bride in a poodle skirt
conjugated in innuendos & stilettos
locutions caramelized in a wok
sealed parchment in a courthouse
glints her wedding ring to the proprietor of Chimes & shrills
Proprietor quacks at a scarlet envelope & I regurgitate old bills
bride price for a North American Pekin
untethered from the front door
marinate her tongue in cool Shaoxing rice wine
& peppercorns
drunken

in that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD.” & the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar — June 6, 1944

envelop me in breasts at Pendulum
where tar-toned sisters bask in the musk
of chitlins & oxtail
husky men blow pipes by ashtrays
snort horse
& sing doo-wop a capella
breezing trumpets with golden teeth
the proprietor of Pendulum barks for my harlot
but I don’t take blood for readies
he tosses red envelopes at her webbed feet
rattling of coins
ring of carillons.

Amanda-Pearl Omoigui is a writer from Vienna, Virginia, attending St. Paul's School. An alumna of the Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program and the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and the Virginia Youth Poet Laureate program. She currently serves as a reader for Harvard Review.