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“Backcountry Metaphor” by Shin Yong-Mok
Like an amputee’s discarded leg,I’m lying down.Somebody closes a window. The passing sky overhead resembles bloodstains on an empty ICU bed in a darkened room. Someone is leaving me. The hurried clack, clack of crutches. Where could my youth be going?Unwrapping the bandages in the delicate red of the evening light,I see infection setting in…
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“Sad Patriarch” by Hwang In-Sook
Thumb, index finger, middle finger.As you stare at your three outstretched fingers,I tell you that you’re making the face of someone about to cry.Your chest is torn in sadness,and because of the brain cancer,you, my older sister’s husband, can no longer cry.Until now, on three fingers you’ve countedyour worries: a wife and two sons.You envy…
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“Dry Fish” by Na Hee-Deok
Let’s linger in the darkness a while longer, you said. We don’t know if this is love, you thought. But the moment your body reached my hand, I knew you spoke from fear…
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“Fading Flesh” by Kim So-Yeon
Monday,you left to go shopping.You bought thinly sliced jellyfish, then washed it.On the veranda, the green onions have bloomedand round snails rest on their blossoms. Tuesday,no matter how hard you tried,you couldn’t wake mein mycircle silhouette,so approaching quietly,you come lie down again. Wednesday,you took the train,pressing your forehead lightly to the rattling windowto better see the…
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“In That House” by Lee Soo-Myeong
In that housea staircasedescendslike eyes. A staircaselike eyes shifting sideways.A staircase turned to grey hairlike eyes. My feet fill the airlike black sirens. In that housethere isa staircase meltinglike eyes. 그 집에는눈처럼떨어지고 있는계단들이 있다. 눈처럼수평으로 이동하는눈처럼 백발이 되어버린계단들이 있다. 검은 사이렌처럼허공을 내 발들로 채우고 그 집에는눈처럼녹고 있는계단들이 있다. “In That House” (그 집에는) originally appeared in Daum…
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“A Love Only in Death” by Cha Chang-Ryong
In the Ganges, drifts a rose.The melting Himalayas flow into an icy riverthat loves to wrap roses in its arms,but when the two embrace, river causes rose to die.In the warmth of sunlight, a rose afloat on a blackened handloves the river and wants to get lost in river’s bosom,but river would soon cause rose…
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“Deep Kiss” by Kim Ki-Taek
The moment your mouth first opens and my tongue hangs between your lips.The moment my tongue is everything, my entire body melting.The moment my returning tongue passes past my throat to the bottom of my toes.The moment ten toes stand up all at once.The moment a feeling hung before my eyes shoots up violently from…
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“Words That Make You” by Kim So-Yeon
Let’s say it’s a sigh.Let’s say that we didn’t have the skill to find the light ourselves.Spinning beyond the earth, ever the over-night worker,the old muscle of moonlight. Let’s say it’s a promise.Let’s say that one time to hide it wellwe searched out the miserable tears of ninety-nine clouds. Let promises overflow like tears which…