Malachi Sinlao
By Malachi Sinlao
Vermilion
my self-portrait is an ‘X’
slashed upon the canvas
with the most vibrant of reds.
the empty space is my body,
ever invisible and out of reach,
clinging to the cinnabar lines
as if she could use them to climb out
into the real world.
the negative space is wiser than i;
she does not see vermilion pigment
as a toxic chemical
that could drive her mad,
but instead she rides the high
of the fumes
which i never dared to sniff.
to any critic,
calling something like this a
self-portrait
is nothing more than an act of defiance.
but as i look through the outlines
of all my drafts
i know this painting is the truest of
my selves.
Malachi Sinlao is a Filipino-American author and poet from St. Petersburg, Florida. He has poetry published in St. Pete’s Neptune Magazine and will have his speculative fiction short story “The Stranger at the River Styx” featured in the inaugural issue of Eldritch Myth in early 2026. You can find more poems on his instagram @malachi_sinlao and short stories at malachisinlao.substack.com.
