These two poems by Leonardo Chung explore the opposite ends of fantasy and life at home through vulnerability. In ruminations of possibility and dreams of transformation, the poems invite readers to explore the depths of both practical and surreal experiences…
by: Leonardo Chung
the hills have eyes and they can find me agreeable when i’m tucked between resolute valleys, above the boulders that once shared stone before erosion. you wouldn’t know it, of course, because all that’s agreeable in your eyes stuck in perpetual motion were the hushing clouds, those that fanned memories of rain, but that’s only quite sufficient in a world where saying have a nice day is enough. and my hands will soak inside a pool of cautious observation, hoping that the summit was enough, and that the strings of dragon’s beard that sway in that empty harlequin sky won’t fall to the ground and twist me in spider silk, restoring my body with its own as i wish to be lifted, to be held by several pruned hands, to be watched by those eyes that now gaze upwards.
Sunburn Fire flickers off hot coals and licks across a hot pan like a blanket. This house has no rosy cheeks; somewhere, I can hear a CD breathe its last breath as it coughs up the last of a Christmas carol. I press the onion cubes into the skillet so that they can become tanner like myself against a plastic beach chair. Then they will char, and I will scrape them into the sink garbage disposal and dice and cry, cry and dice. Perhaps I interrupt destiny, that the tears flowing out freeze, and the splashing oil suspends in the air, and the world stops making me browner (for a second).
Leonardo Chung is a young aspiring writer from Illinois. He has participated in several writing programs such as the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Sewanee Young Writers' Conference, and Juniper Institute for Young Writers. He also runs a literary and art magazine called Clepsydra. Leonardo's work has been previously published by various literary journals and magazines such as Rigorous, riverSedge, Sheila-Na-Gig, SweetLit, Vermilion, and more. An avid thinker, Leonardo has dedicated his time musing the art of poetry through life experiences and his imagination.