A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Desecrated Solace

Lauren Hyunseo Cho, Seoul, South Korea

 

Gatekeeper of an alluring mirage,

A turtle floats

Restless in the tide. 

Look closely and meet 

Its gaze,

Haunted and lovely, fractured

Kaleidoscopes;

Look closer and notice 

Manufactured stitches,

Splinters in its smile, shards of sacrilege

(Don’t be so careless 

When you rip them out);

Look closer still and see the hollowed

Mutilation of its vessel, spears

Piercing its throat,

Poisoned with gilded

Intent.

Gather the turtle in your hands

As it cries its sullied

Song of the sea.

Sorrow pours into you like leaking

Oil, embracing you in its ugly

Net.

The water engulfing you is warmer

Than it should be.

 

Lauren Hyunseo Cho is a published poet based in Seoul, South Korea. She has her poems forthcoming, pending on editorial review, or published in CrashTest Magazine, Teen Ink, Ice Lolly Review, LiveWire, and more. She is interested in issues of multicultural advocacy, feminism, and philosophy. Her love for writing serves to produce poems and stories of her take on these ideas.

Lantau (Rotten Head)

Too-Late Protection Charm