jonathan chan

Jonathan Chan is a writer and editor of poems and essays. Born in New York to a Malaysian father and South Korean mother, he was raised in Singapore and educated at Cambridge and Yale Universities. He is the author of the poetry collection going home (Landmark, 2022). He has recently been moved by the work of Pádraig Ó Tuama, Christopher Soto, and Hua Hsu. He has an abiding interest in faith, identity, and creative expression. More of his writing can be found at jonbcy.wordpress.com.

forgiveness

after Naomi Shihab Nye

i remember drinking deep 

of that pool, the rage coursing 

down the gullet, compressed

into an airtight pit. to have 

been followed as prey is 

to feel the palpitations under

the skin, shuddering with 

every glimpse of disheveled 

fury. kindness 

dissolves the future in

a moment. its tender gravity 

bends vascular strings, unseals

the vacuum, renews the smooth

muscle of prayer. every breath 

loosens into possibility, light 

through exit-wounds, the blight 

of fear, hunger, the inhospitable 

tarmac. and yet, it cannot bleed as 

presumption. that battered body stirs 

again, the turn of laced fingers:

may you know the embrace of a pedestrian

smile, may you know the calm of divine

shelter, may these words warm as an

invisible cloak, a winding peace in 

scattered rain.   

Read more of Jonathan’s work in Solum Journal Volume II, III, and V (forthcoming).