Gates Open
A monk’s heart is a mobile home
Clouds are mostly gossip, for monks
In meditation, monks train to be naked
Monks on one leg balance into red breeze
They watch animals vanish into colors
Then gather morning’s dew into bell jars
If there is a world shared, let it be ours, they chant
Monks scribble their names onto each tombstone
A monk’s bonfire is mostly I.D. papers
A monk’s laughter is wind collapsing
through our fingers
“Architecture Aims At Eternity”
– Christopher Wren
Koalas in eternity, bored a.f.
Eternal skeletons shop for new skin
Eternity’s cellars are full of soap animals
Nina Simone in eternity never sounded so troubled, so sweet
Eternity is a dish best served with duck
Eternal beds remain unmade—lumpy & disheveled
Eternal McDonalds, more rotless yellow fries!
Salvador Dali reclines in eternal glass slipper
Opening to eternity, our walls of flesh
Eternity, passing clean through us, once again
Kevin Phan graduated from the University of Michigan with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2013 and the University of Iowa with a B.A. in English Literature in 2005. He is a former Helen Zell Writer’s Fellow Postgraduate Fellow from the University of Michigan. His work has been featured (or is forthcoming) in Conjunctions (online), Crab Orchard Review, Fence, Colorado Review, SubTropics, Crazyhorse, Columbia, and elsewhere. His first collection of poetry was recently selected as a semi-finalist for the Crab Orchard Open Poetry Competition, a finalist for the Crab Orchard First Book Prize, and as a finalist for the Colorado Review Poetry Prize. He lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he maintains athletic facilities, climbs mountains, & drinks microbrews. Like many Capricorns, he’s often cranky & clever & creative. Also, loving & unpredictable. The buddha is his homeboy.