Yucheng Tao
Portland
In Portland's winter,
the scent of roses fills the dead volcano.
By night, roses call me to dream upon the mountain.
In the dream, the mountain becomes my body,
granting me power.
Outside the dream, peacocks dance in the forest,
their eyes full of the swaying shadow of roses
with their colorful feathers under the moonlight.
They drift into my dream.
I return to the volcano, to share an endless,
waking dream with the roses.
Bio
Yucheng Tao is an international student from China, currently studying songwriting in Los Angeles. His work appears in Wild Court(UK), The Lake(UK), Red Ogre Review...UK), Cathexis Northwest Press, and NonBinary Review (alongside an interview). He has published poetry and fiction separately in Yellow Mama, Synchronized Chaos and writes in the darker styles of Apocalypse Confidential. Other literary credits include Ink Nest, The Arcanist, Down in the Dirt, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and others.