TWO POEMS

Hurricane Season

by Daniel Liu

Poetry Winner of the Inaugural Surging Tide Summer Contest 
​Selected by I. S. Jones

I apologize too much for small things, but I feel sorry too little. 
On Saturdays, I ignore my dad calling about toilet paper or batteries. I am not 
a good son. Most of the time I drive like a thunderstorm cradling 
a baby, which is why my grandmother is almost blind. She reminds me that 
the rain is angrier here in America but everyone thinks she is deaf. 
She grips her jade bangle when the lightning recounts all her Buddhist 
traditions for her.    Little dipper, can I hold you closer to my ribcage. 
Can I rattle you back and forth until I am a mother too, the light 
surrendering to the gaps between my fingers. I am so surprised by
the size of wild animals, and when she grabbed the shovel and 
crushed the garden snake under an iron diamond, I knew my apology 
before I knew my want. I am so still I end up alone. 
Even the horses know my fear. I feel so sorry for myself that the 
water droplets release too soon, and I am left with just the floodpath.

THRIFTING

by Daniel Liu

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Daniel Liu is an American writer. The author of COMRADE (fifth wheel press 2022), his work appears in The Adroit Journal and Diode. He has received awards from the Pulitzer Center, YoungArts, the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers, Columbia College Chicago, Bennington College, the Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose, and others. You can find his work at daniel-liu.carrd.co

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