By: Yucheng Tao

Where

cold wind
cuts through
the swaying trees
beneath black clouds
floribunda
grandiflora
miniature roses bloom
all over the garden—
but the rose i seek is not here
hummingbirds
rest in beams of light
but i only want to hear god’s whisper

after i was cast out

i tried to search again
but I found nothing
At last, at the fork in the night
I found no rose
like the time of Eden
and covered my face
weeping

Portland

In Portland’s winter,
the scent of roses fills the dead volcano.
By night, roses call me to dream upon the mountain.
In the dream, the mountain becomes my body,
granting me power.
Outside the dream, peacocks dance in the forest,
their eyes full of the swaying shadow of roses
with their colorful feathers under the moonlight.
They drift into my dream.
I return to the volcano, to share an endless,
waking dream with the roses.

The Fading Light of Dead April

We kiss in April,

sharing every slice of pineapple,
a flavor stirring together like our past.
The sizzling Hawaiian pizza,
served on my table,
no longer suits the bitterness.
The sweetness once around your lips
fades with the night.

Moonlight sinks into the sparkling water
in the glass, cutting off the clarity
of yesterday, like whistling grass
swept through by winds from the hills.
My unsettled heart flashes
for a moment through the bubbles.
You change, returning to the Margherita.

I walk back to my car,
leaving the winter dinner behind.
But my bones still breathe,
shivering in the stillness of night.
I try to walk away,

after you take away the light

that no longer comes for April.

###

Yucheng Tao is a Chinese poet based in Los Angeles, currently pursuing a B.A. in Songwriting at the Musicians Institute. His work has appeared in over 40 journals worldwide, including Wild Court (King’s College London), Red Ogre Review (UK), The Lake (UK), NonBinary Review, Apocalypse Confidential, The Arcanist, Cathexis Northwest Press and many more. He was a finalist(Top 6) for the Native Voice Award. His debut chapbook was published by Alien Buddha Press and second by Bottlecap press.