Persephone’s Strength
i.
into the Ponderosa Pines,
my mind replayed my roulette of regrets.
passion was my poison. perched off too many cliffs
that weren’t mine.
ii.
this maple leaf greeted me:
“you can be wrinkled and broken.
feel the joy of this falling leaf ,
setting itself free from this branch.”
iii.
the wind whispered:
“you are not buried, you are not dead.
you are dormant, you are in recovery.
you can be fire with all the rage, you will be the light, full of sage.
you took Pomegranate seeds, enshrined in Linear B Tablet.
you are Persephone - The Goddess of Spring, the Queen of the Underworld.
you can be withering and uplifting to the living and the dead”.
iv.
i summoned Persephone’s strength:
no one asks the still wind if it is there.
no one says Jesus’ forty days and nights was in vain.
no one stops the skylark in the pouring rain.
no one tells the burning phoenix to put out her flame.
i am not being buried; i am being planted.
yet –
this body, this mind
would fight a thousand times.
this body, this mind
died a thousand times
before anyone realised i had already left.
On a Cold Winter’s Day, We Scattered White Chrysanthemums Across Laguna Woods
I.
There’s a war in my heart | Of the way you were taken
Grief is a sonata without movements
Grief wuthers, whispers to weeping willows
Grief is a cooing Mourning Dove
– You will visit us
Where sacrifice was the act
Love must be the healing pact
II.
Love is a thing of crosses | Love keeps the flickering candle
But Faith
Oh, Faith
Rises from shifting sands
Faith
is the ocean of conquered waves
Of
scattered ashes
Of
white chrysanthemum petals.
– In memoriam, Dr John Cheng, 15 May 2022
Amy Lee lives in Seattle and is the Managing Editor of Quail Bell Magazine, a NYC based progressive feminist digital platform. She started writing as she feels she has been quiet for too long. Her work has been published in Canada, UK, Australia, Taiwan and USA. She continues to fight against racism and sexism and recently co-founded the Go Fund Me project that successfully saved Bruce Lee’s Warrior TV Series for Season 3 on MAX, which is moving to Netflix in February 2024.
