11/11 and Other Poems

By Junseo Lee

11/11

11 AM—Armistice

To be remembered 
in remembrance

A dirty pool of evacuees

Defy the Four Horsemen of D-Day
In earnest

To discover our origins
the Mendelian factor
the paradox of L’Hopital’s Rule

Seemingly noncancerous

But the preconviction yields
Discovery is a maladapted fool

In a private first class
wins the Pulitzer Prize
A noncombat outdoorsman’s life

While those in the Lakotan
Line of duty face the
Tear-gas of thyroxine

For POWs remember
Remembrance Day
Not as that on a silver screen

But a Stanford-Binet Test
of their sanity
Waiting for their Mickey Finn to be cleaned.

OST

A work of art lies in front of me	
beauty in every panel, every frame	
as a girl finds the boy she lost 	
their lives completely changed	

I cannot help but close my eyes 
to listen, to appreciate		
The strum of guitars, the beat of a drum		
The melody betrayed	

The sounds create a whole new story	
separate and distinct 		
unfamiliar words with meaning    
fill my eardrums as I sink

Into memories of events	
That never did occur	
Of dancing in a concert hall	
the wind a rushing blur	

I open up my eyes once more	
to see the art behind the art		
Though my senses tell me otherwise,
my mind is worlds apart

The Eyes of the Crow

Traps may come and go
But none can keep the crow
Its piercing eyes of black

Stare from the trees' crack

Echoes of its caws
Penetrate through our hearts
Bringing loyalty so strong

But to cross it, do no wrong

For crows are judge and jury too
With memories that always hold true
They watch and judge our every move

Leaving marks that eternally groove

So when you cross a crow's path
Beware its piercing, judging gaze
For it is the observer of all

And its memory will never fall.

Junseo Lee is a dedicated high school student at Seoul International School in Seoul, South Korea. He has a passion for writing and is currently compiling a portfolio to showcase his work for university applications. With an unbridled enthusiasm for the written word, Junseo hopes to continue exploring different styles and techniques to develop his craft.