Mantis 18 (Spring 2020)
West Coast Poetry

Marina Chen

Ski Lift

From the powdered

air swoons the barn-owl,

one chestnut

bonbon above

sugared trees. Closer,

its speckled

cream beats rhythm

upon numbing cheeks, a

beat, a beat, a beat.

Then loom two ink wells,

beady,

unreal. And in them

I see you. And

I see you.

And I see you.

MARINA CHEN is a high schooler from Washington State and member of the Seattle Youth Poet Laureate cohort. Her work has been recognized by the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Live Poets Society of New Jersey, the Hanging Loose literary magazine, the Austin International Poetry Festival, and others. She writes about heritage and emotion, well as everything she loves (and things she doesn’t.)