after the lilacs dropped their heads
after I laid to rest in a cold, firm bed
after you pressed into me murmuring and warm
after grasslands and fields, bright glinting magpie in turbulence
after each wave cascaded to conclusion
after the blue endless calamity, how the twilight ate stars
after I poured myself and furthered
after we gathered distances in close communion
after glacial memories churned themselves with effort into the single sea
after the small hands of your children
after the ones I abandoned and lost
oh how my mother’s body cries to me across that far, blonde plain
that I observed the smallest duration
that I walked among its precocious day
that heartbeat and grief swell its magnitude and hold
with difference, with habit
we encountered each other
we encountered each other
you you you you you you you you you
what can I know of this remarkable entity
the dark radiant creature we inhabit together as life
my desires and failures consume me
((perilous blue wake in final accord
I am small my name enfolds me
its proper limits press into my sides
Sueyeun Juliette Lee grew up 3 miles from the CIA. She edits Corollary Press, a chapbook series devoted to innovative multi-ethnic writing. Her books include That Gorgeous Feeling andUnderground National as well as numerous chapbooks. She has held arts residencies at Kunstnarhuset Messen (Norway), Hafnarborg (Iceland) and UCross Foundation, and was a Pew Fellow in the Arts for Literature. A poetry reviewer for The Constant Critic, you can find her at silentbroadcast.com
