mercurial reverie

By Leonardo Chung

in the 	      blackened abyss      i hear a voice:	
a harlequined        peacock 	     a fiery blaze of sequins
in echoes of notes	like stars       an orchestra of
supernovas	    a sculptor of soundscapes
a singer of requiems		of rhapsodies 
now hold on          to that            cosmic tie 	      and ignite 
the tail           of that chameleon       let’s soar on wings 
of stardust        fly on         a mercurial         journey
through his namesake          to hear         queen’s murmur        
through mercury          that cryptic sphere 
now weave him into             that            celestial curtain
to be rebirthed            into freddie              the mercury
our mercury           a stellar troubadour          i follow him through 
a dance            in blending harmony          catching the current
of a reborn         refrain         and i dance          with untamed and
unrestrained rhythm         amongst these stars            a fabric of
language         and i’m no longer         confined       to this vastness
of space      but rather       i stray     from this expanse         our 
stories      entwining us together        combining our    voices      in this 
labyrinth      of        emotions        both of us          knowing          
not adversity      or calamity            but victory             let’s sound
one symphony                  a whisper             of champions

Leonardo Chung is a Korean-American writer from Illinois. He recently won First Place in Poetry in the Los Angeles Review, placed in the 2025 Yeats Poetry Prize, and won First Place for Nonfiction in the 93rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Epiphany, Portland Review, Atlanta Review, Los Angeles Review and many others. While pursuing an English degree at Yale University, he takes inspiration from distinguished poets such as Langston Hughes, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Louise Glück.