Cheryl Chen

Cows in a Field

Come closer.     You are too
away to see it as anything but green.

The fences are just fine: Dense oak, Babylon,
                                             ten rings before falling.

Pretend I know everything

there is to know about being      naked.

Streaking among grass. The point?
Okay, okay.       You want a fable
or a knife?

             I am tired of acting

like everything isn’t about love.

             Groceries—love.
                           Aisle 13—love.
                                      Windows—love.
                                                   An ugly hat—love.                      This,  this,  this—

The difference between drinking and taking
                                                                           lies with the mouth.       Lies.

I want my elbows on this fence forever.                             I want my eyes on the field, awe

                                       at their bodies                specks of paint on a canvas

  made of blades.

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Cheryl Chen is a queer Chinese-Canadian writer in Toronto, Canada. Their work has been recognized by the League of Canadian Poets Jessamy Stursberg Prize, Scholastic Writing Awards, Eden Mills Young Poets Prize, among others. Their work has been previously published or is forthcoming in Eunoia Review, Toronto Young Voices Magazine, ARTWIFE Magazine, The Next Generation Volume V, among others. They are the founder and co-editor-in-chief of Peiskos Literary Magazine.