3 Poems by Therese Young Kim

Sweet Venus

On a mid-summer day in Manhattan
a young woman with golden tresses
stands on the curb of sidewalk
waiting for the light to turn green.

As she stands limber in her sundress
bared to her tony limbs and more
the sun etches a V onto her bosom.

Cars slow down, windows roll down,
lips round to Wow!

With the changing light her sandaled feet
float down the street in the perfection
of a moment framed in the summer haze.


Radiance

On a luminous summer day
gaze upon the sky where plump clouds
gently roam across the azure blue.

You’ll see mountains, valleys, streams.
From another angle, you may hear
occasional laughter, whispers, sighs.

At night you’ll find rubies, diamonds,
sapphires. They say many were expired
light years ago, but they’re still glowing.

Our brains reflect the universe
in the galaxy of grand mystery.

No human has beholden the sun
with naked eyes. We only see reflections
in the light and shadow.

My parents are long gone. I am only a shadow
of their silent radiance.


A Rendez-vous

In the calm of a winter night
a crescent moon sits on the bare boughs
of a sycamore,

her slim waist curved away
like a shy maiden girl.

A woman, bowed over a cane, trudges
behind her shaggy dog plodding on
in her shadow.

Tall lampposts on the hillside raise
their blue tulip lights and glow
like a crescent river.

In the tree nook above, a pair
of squirrels murmur in their slumber.

Surrendering to the naked sycamore
that has awaited me a hundred years
                         tonight,

I open my arms round to hold you tight.


Bionote

As a long-time writer of poems and prose, Therese Young Kim is in her senior year living in New York City with humble publishing history.  A number of her Korean poems and stories were published in Korean language journals. Two stories in English were published twice in Rosebud literary magazine.  An excerpt of her novel in completion, “Nayoung’s Journey,” was published in Infinity literary journal and the novel was a minor semi-finalist at two different competitions.  Her website address is www.yoursentimentalstranger.com.