In A Land Full of Promises

All light rests on you like lovebirds
on an intricate arm of an apple tree.

Your mouth speaks a foreign language
that my mother tongue can’t decipher.

Small moles on your left cheek are
arranged into the cosmic sign of Virgo,

a blurry reminder of my homeland.
Trapped, in this endless vacuum of time.

Your glossy eyes embody the Atlantic sea
that drove me into depression. An estranged

pilot stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Drifting away with ocean currents. No boats

to drive me back to my homeland.
I can trace your blue veins

more easily than my lineage. I stand
alone in this world, resisting to be dragged

by the currents that once engulfed me
into an endless pit of darkness. When I reach

into the center of your body, your heartbeat
is a distant light for a wanderer in the sea.

So I decide to settle on you.

By Jimin Lee

Biography:

Jimin Lee is a Korean-American writer living in Seoul, South Korea. As a published author on various platforms, her fiction and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in Crashtest Magazine, The Daphne Review, and The Rising Phoenix Review, among others. She is the founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Ideate Review, a literary magazine that recognizes works of creative writing and art relating to global issues and identity. In addition, she is an alumnus of the Juniper Institute for Young Writers. She enjoys learning about the world around her and writing about it.