{"id":3663,"date":"2024-07-06T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-06T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/?p=3663"},"modified":"2024-07-07T18:59:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T18:59:26","slug":"the-sail-by-ian-li-june-2024-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/the-sail-by-ian-li-june-2024-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sail by Ian Li (June 2024 Poetry)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

F<\/strong>ar off the coast, the Great Sail<\/p>\n\n\n\n

stands in the ocean and stretches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the sky, where stars keep it company<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the sun takes care not to knock it over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mother teaches me to judge time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the Sail\u2019s infinite shadow;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my father recounts tales of royalty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and explorers paying their respects\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

yet it remains a stoic statue,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

never billowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To most, it fades<\/p>\n\n\n\n

into the backdrop of life\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like sky and earth,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

day and night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it tempts me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with whispered promises of adventure,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

so much that I tremble at night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dreaming of the new skies it will bring\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

our oceans will shrink to mere puddles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

next to the celestial seas we\u2019ll traverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When courage seizes me, I take a ship<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to accept the Sail\u2019s offer, nudged along<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by soothing waves and timid breezes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where it dwells in the sea,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it\u2019s just the Sail and me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

an ant and a tree,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a child and a queen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drifting close, my forehead touches the mast,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my desire surging skyward like a firework<\/p>\n\n\n\n

until the Sail heaves, summoning rousing winds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our world rumbles and groans,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dragged from its slumber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The serene ocean swells for the first time,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as does my heart. I look up with tears\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the stars have become streaks of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Li<\/strong> (he\/him) is a Chinese-Canadian writer of speculative fiction and poetry, who started writing less than a year ago after a lifetime of believing he could never be creative. In addition to writing, he also loves economics, game development, spreadsheets, and brain teasers. Find his fiction published or forthcoming in Abyss & Apex<\/em>, Solarpunk Magazine<\/em>, and BSFA’s Fission<\/em>, and his poetry published or forthcoming in Star*Line<\/em>, Eye to the Telescope<\/em>, and Worlds of Possibility<\/em>, among other venues. Learn more at https:\/\/ian-li.com<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Far off the coast, the Great Sail stands in the ocean and stretches into the sky, where stars keep it company and the sun takes care not to knock it over. My mother teaches me to judge time from the Sail\u2019s infinite shadow; my father recounts tales of royalty and explorers paying their respects\u2014 yet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","ph_site_tiers_settings":[[{"Price":"1.00","Tier_name":"Voyager","Tier_id":"prod_PbejBstAbzGx6D","Selected":"true","Tier_status":"publish"},{"Price":"2.00","Tier_name":"Pioneer","Tier_id":"prod_Pbekxd4dT46vIU","Selected":"true","Tier_status":"publish"},{"Price":"5.00","Tier_name":"Cosmonaut","Tier_id":"prod_PbenhwsNUd6XSB","Selected":"true","Tier_status":"publish"}]],"_ph_post_tiers":["prod_PbejBstAbzGx6D","prod_Pbekxd4dT46vIU","prod_PbenhwsNUd6XSB"],"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1662,1663,531,599,1743],"class_list":["post-3663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ian-li","tag-june-2024","tag-orions-belt","tag-orions-belt-poetry","tag-the-sail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3664,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3663\/revisions\/3664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/orionsbeltmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}