The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Sunrise Kingdom, by Emma Miao

10/12/2020

1 Comment

 
Picture
Sunrise Kingdom, by Emma Miao (Canada) 2020

Sunrise Kingdom

The summer air flattens me like a leaf 
pressed against a window in a storm. 
The veins curling, as if extending through
the glass; a pin burrowing on a whim 
into a stranger’s life. The days are wilting. 
The nights. Diving into a lake to find 
it has turned into glass, and then to realize 
it isn’t a lake at all, but a mirror, reflecting 
my secrets like moths to a wound. 
My thoughts echo into the crisscross of stars.
I can hear my voice, speaking, as if to say
what you are looking for is out there, find it. 
The shivering first breath upon surfacing 
the water. A flurry of doves into a pair of lungs. 
A dandelion breaking topsoil. Come fall, it will 
scatter to the wind, its existence lost in the folds 
of time. Still, it blooms. As if to say: I will exist, 
even ephemerally. I yearn for low tide,
the sand ridging beneath my toes. The waves,
constantly evolving into the same thing.
I dream of diving backwards. The unspooling of myth
into reality. I dream of swimming in syllables as if 
I can catch living on my tongue. Catch 
footprints on the shore at night, knowing 
they’ll be gone by morning. ​

Emma Miao

Emma Miao is a Chinese-Canadian poet from Vancouver, BC. Her poems appear in Cosmonauts Avenue, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Emerson Review, Rising Phoenix Review, and Up the Staircase Quarterly, among others. The winner of the F(r)iction Poetry Contest 2020, Emma is a Commended Foyle Young Poet 2019, a COUNTERCLOCK Arts Collective Fellow, and an alumna of the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. Her poetry and piano album, Oscillation, is forthcoming this winter. Find her at emmamiao.weebly.com.
1 Comment
David King link
3/11/2022 01:46:33 pm

A flurry of doves into a pair of lungs. A dandelion breaking topsoil. Come fall, it will scatter to the wind, Thank you for taking the time to write a great post!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead