Imagine a day — Iona Jiang

where the first thing she sees isn’t
the spider-webbed cracks multiplying her phone screen.

Where she doesn’t need to bruise her finger
when pressing down on the screen protector

just so it can light up. She doesn’t have
23 missed calls asking her to work an extra shift

at the convenience store. Imagine a day where she doesn’t
have to feel the ache in her legs from miles

on wet pavement, sand lodging in her soles
as they fray. She doesn’t have to wait

an extra 17 minutes to board a bus while standing under
bursts of rain, rain soaking her thinning jeans

as she watches angry faces bob under umbrellas.
Imagine a day where the convenience store’s fluorescent lights don’t

flicker above as she enters, where her hands
doesn’t tremble as she tiptoes to stock the highest shelf.

Where her customers doesn’t yell at her for not knowing
where the salted pretzels are. Imagine a day where she boards

a train and falls asleep to the wheels’ rhythmic clack
beneath her as the landscape on the other side of the glass blurs

into a patchwork of green hills and shadowed valleys, wind
tugging at the edges of her long coat. Through the cracks

in the windows, the scent of saltwater slips through, the horizon
shimmering in the soft, fading light. She steps onto the sand, soft

as her toes sink into the scent of the saltwater, into the sound
of waves breaking against the shore. We can only imagine.

---

Iona Jiang is a Grade 12 student at St.John's School in Vancouver with a deep passion for the writing craft. Her work can be found in the “VOICES/VOIX” Journal, the "ink" Journal, and the Young Writers Journal. She has received eight regional awards from the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers and is now pursuing writing through further publications. When she isn’t writing, Iona is either making art, going on a walk, or listening to music.