Two Poems 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.