benthos

I sold my wrists last night to touch
the frailest of things: a bone, a body,

a belly of a bull frog at the end of an
endless lake. My whole life I had been

waiting for brightness, blue cave crystals
or the break of dawn. But this morning

walking on the edge of tired waters, the algae
pooled like bruises, and I think I’ve chased

beauty too long. In the dark well of trees
behind the lake, the moon pleads like a father

begging for solace, something soft and pretty to hold.

This poem won the Poetry Prompt Prize for January 2023. It is inspired by Neil Surkan's prompt "give your poem a secret"

Poetry Editor Brandon Wint writes about "benthos" by Angelina Yeung:

"Benthos" is a slippery, surprising, and therefore delightful poem full of strange, unexpected images. Angelina's poem displays a wonderful attention to the relationship between lineation, sound, and elements of surprise in a poem. The poem's last sentence is one of the most evocative lines of new poetry I have read this year, in any context.

a young person with a mask on in a cafe

Angelina Yeung

Grade: 11 / Sec. V
Crofton House School
Vancouver, BC

“This prompt inspired me to manipulate form to further a sense of isolation and lack of direction. The speaker in the poem is constantly chasing things out of reach, but it's in the silence new things are revealed to them, and they start to slowly understand the world. ”

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