As It Turned Out
Everything is a matter
of time.
Magnolias in rain
aglow like udders. A decade-
old fedora catching fire.
Milk turning
flour into something else.
A lineage of illness
not to be outwitted.
Still, little moments:
you’re in
luck, are you
in?
Take this felt pen from me, you said.
When you look back, I will be still
holding it.
What of these dimmed feelings
to rise above the clouds
of a clouded mind.
Look
back.
All of us
meant no harm,
caused it all
the same.
Suphil Lee Park (수필 리 박 / 秀筆李朴) is the author of the poetry collection, Present Tense Complex, winner of the Marystina Santiestevan Prize (Conduit Books & Ephemera 2021), and a poetry chapbook, Still Life, selected by Ilya Kaminsky as the winner of the Tomaž Šalamun Prize. She is also the translator of If You’re Going to Live to One Hundred, You Might As Well Be Happy by Rhee Kun Hoo, published by Union Square & Co and Rider (Penguin UK). You can find more about her at: