Koru Magazine

sunshine

Jonathan Chan, Singapore

sunshine is the colour of dread.
see how it ripples through the
edges of yellow
and blue, the bubbles
and the foam turned in
to themselves.

from above,
the sunlight has begun to swallow
the ocean, rising and cresting,
just as it has begun to bake
fissures into the earth.
parched mouths pray
for a taste

of water, for the relief
of shade, toes cracked,
shirts wrung. the skin
of their palms has been
drawn tight. a flare dances
in the distance, thunder
crackling like a biblical

omen. there is a dapple
of comfort on a sun-mingled
sea, the heart reaching into
the reservoir of itself,
watching, waiting,
as the waves
continue to lift
and to fold, as

the brightness continues
to reach
to its ends.

Jonathan Chan is a writer and editor. He is the author of the poetry collection going home (Landmark, 2022) and Managing Editor of poetry.sg. Born in New York to a Malaysian father and South Korean mother, he was raised in Singapore and educated at Cambridge and Yale Universities. More of his writing can be found at jonbcy.wordpress.com.