Soleil David
SEOUL IN OCTOBER

If I could be anywhere
………..in the Fall
it would be Korea

walking rubberized pavement
………..to the top of Namsan Tower
surprised by snow in October

kimchi stew because
………..I never remember
a flask or boxed soju

like all the ahjussis come
………..equipped with
Sir it’s only Monday morning

how are you already reeking
………..The scent of ginkgos follows me
I know it’s a kind of courtship

If I were
………..a halfway competent
nature poet

I would write
………..the mountains are aflame
and the sun has lent

the ginkgo leaf its shine
………..Not satisfied
the same tree

waits for night
………..to steal the inky darkness
for its bark

Soleil David was born and raised in the Philippines. She is a 2017 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow and a Graduate Scholars Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she is pursuing her MFA in poetry. Her poetry and prose have been published in Our Own Voice, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Santa Ana River Review, The Margins and Day One.

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #20.