‘grievances of schrödinger's cat’

Dominique Carrillo-Pierce is a German-American writer, designer, and filmmaker. Her work has been featured in The Malahat Review, Panorama, Bombay Gin, Stone Canoe, WHLR, Bricolage, Miracle Monocle, and more.

grievances of schrödinger's cat

I think. I

observe. I

understand.

Therefore— I am.

To think is to choose:

I choose a state of mind.

I make it definite.

But if reality unfurls from

observation

as humans say,

if overlapping waves can

collapse into one crested tsunami,

how can they say perception is a choice?

Can a blank canvas refuse ink from a bleeding pen?

Unlike me, humans will witness more reddening bodies escape

our galaxy's milky current toward the universe widening

its river mouth. Yet even sealed in cardboard walls,

I can recall playing with yarn and

how pulling it closer 

unravels it from

its ball.

But like me, humans know this:

though knotted within itself,

at least the yarn remains in shape.

Admittedly, their teased yarn is also laced

with my tousled braids of probabilities.

So they believe in choice,

while I simply—

am.

Helena Wang (she/her) is a high school junior from Connecticut, USA. Though she's a previously unpublished writer, her work has been commended by Scholastic Writing and has made Finalist for DePaul's Blue Book: Best American High School Writing. Her hobbies include playing the viola, listening to indie-rock, and drinking overpriced lattes.