Daisuke Shen

Daisuke Shen (he/they) is originally from Greenville, South Carolina and Kitahiroshima, Japan. Their work has previously been published in The Asian American Literary Review, Maudlin House, The Nervous Breakdown, Autostraddle, Joyland Magazine, and more. They are currently working on a short story collection. You can visit their website at www.daisukeshen.com or follow them on Twitter @dai__joubu.

SONATA by Daisuke Shen

For a long time now, all sound has been damp. Wrapped in mildew, white-fleeced, everyone’s voices turned to mist. I am the only one not contained within this quiet—me, who has always wished to be, more so than anyone else; me, the girl who could never stop singing. I had tried all of the tricks, of course: stuffed my mouth with lagan scrounged from sea beds, weaned off of proteins and greens, hoping to become weaker. Yet the avalanche of notes poured out of my mouth like sludge; my crazed melodies frenetic and pinched as sand fleas. The silence started…

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