First, learn the terrain
from earth to rooftop ridge:
every burrow, every branch,
every furrow the rain runs.
Second, learn the lesser lives:
the generations of rabbits,
the gyrations of starlings
gathered in murmurations.
Third, master wind and air:
stir fog from morning dew,
muster an army of clouds
to march in autumn storm.
Four, harness these tools.
Steer cats by wafted drafts
that speak of mouse, or mole,
or the secrets of sparrows.
Mary Soon Lee was born and raised in London, but has lived in Pittsburgh for thirty years. She is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and three-time winner of both the AnLab Readers' Award and the Rhysling Award. The first print edition of her epic-fantasy-told-in-poems, The Sign of the Dragon, was published in January 2025. She hides her online presence with a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com) and an equally cryptic BlueSky account (@marysoonlee.bsky.social).
