Women of Heaven

by Jean YeoJin Sung

I see women
live off the scent of their men,

breathe deep
musk in the mornings,

remember big brothers
learning to put on after-shave.

They are Chunyeo,
Women of Heaven

who move gracefully,
create the oceans that divide

the earth and the fire to burn
what we do not want to see.

Their souls evaporate,
then shower our lands

with desire. Unaffected
by the thick air, they breathe

molecules of their men,
reach each day's ending

embrace in darkness.
I wait patiently

to become one of them—
my man's forceful fragrance

surrounding me
like a centrifuge.

About the Author

Jean YeoJin Sung was born in Seoul, South Korea, raised in southern New Jersey, and has been living and working in New York City since August of 2001. She is currently in her last semester at the Rutgers University — Newark Creative Writing M.F.A program. She has previously published in the Gallatin Review at New York University where she was awarded with the Herbert J. Rubin Award for Poetry.

Maintained or neglected, familiar or foreign, well-worn or wild, roadways inform our decisions and identities. Their geographies direct the movement
of our lives and sketch the cartography of our stories. In this spirit, 322 Review publishes provocative emerging and established artists whose fiction,
creative nonfiction, poetry, and mixed media artwork wander the paths of human experience. A nonprofit literary journal conceived
and operated by former Rowan University graduate students, 322 Review is based in Southern New Jersey.