1.
I climbed a mountain
Last Thursday
Notice how I didn’t say hike.
There was no nice smooth rock to have lunch on,
no handsome scenery
and it certainly wasn’t sunrise.
But I ate the fake trail mix
and shoved through the cement
shoved through the cement
and then
above,
a glitch in the black
Blinding pinprick
I had to–
2.
Rewind that tape
It was laughter
of a forty people crowd,
televised
It was wretched coughing
frenzied squirrel squirming in the throat
swallowed whole–
3.
I climbed a mountain
this time to the very top.
To the round garden found deep in the clouds, reserved for the winners.
here I am
engraving your name on the bark of an oak tree,
infatuated
as crass as I can get.
Eunsae Lee
Grade: 12 / CEGEP I
St. Peter Catholic Secondary School
Peterborough, ON
“I wanted to capture the storm of emotions like overflowing envy and insecurity that come with teenage relationships.”
Bio
Eunsae Lee is a grade twelve student living in Peterborough. You can find her scribbling or drawing in her notebook at any given time. She is originally from Korea, and she loves to write poetry in either language.