Come, Sorrow in a Mouthful 3, and: Cloud, and: Table, and: Riverside, and: Teacher 2, and: Dear Light

Abstract

Come, Sorrow in a Mouthful 31, and: Cloud, and: Table, and: Riverside, and: Teacher 2, and: Dear Light Translated by Jaewuk Kim (bio) Come, Sorrow in a Mouthful 31 The electric razor my father-in-lawused for over a yearwhen he lay in the hospital bed,I brought to my office to useafter he had passed.A year or two laterwhen I had to shave one morningI opened the razor and thereremained a fine powder of skin and hair.I dusted it off with a shaving brushand rinsed the inside with tap waterbut the powder of skin and hair didn't go away, [End Page 291] so without much thought I tossed the razorinto the trashcan.I never told my wife,but for a year or twomy father-in-law had remainedinside my office drawer. [End Page 292] Cloud I call the father cloudfather andthe son cloud sonwhen I try to embracethe son andkiss himI get drops of rainy fog on my clothesdon't embrace too fiercelywere father's words,a half-hearted embracenever got father wet,father cloud's cloud words [End Page 293] Table After a good meal the children leaveon the table ripped burger wrapsand dented Coke bottlesand the paper napkins they used to wipe their mouthsthose things aren't aware of one anotherand are both close and a little far away children, this is usin this world where the stars go grayand dreams give no rest,we never once thinksomeday we will be cleared awayby the world that raised us in its arms [End Page 294] Riverside There is a dog in deep slumberat the back of a small restaurant in Pusanby the riverside where I would often go to eat at the sound of my footsteps,it wakes, looks far ahead,and then falls back to sleep with such hazy eyes,I too look, at the vinyl greenhousespread in whitelike some mad realization [End Page 295] Teacher 2 Last day of classes a student studying English literaturegave me a bag of candies and inside was a card professor you've taught us so muchand so well, but this lousy poem is all I havewritten and now I graduate yes, that's exactlywhat I wanted to say I studied with good professorswithout a worry in the world,but I write useless poemsand have taught them to be poetry in the eyes of my motherwho prayed to the ancestors to help improve my writingin the eyes of my kidswho thought their father being published in the papers was cause for celebration because I've been writing such shameful poetry,the student's wordsstill ring in my ears [End Page 296] Dear Light It would have been better if the light hadn't comebut it camethe crack was revealedand in the crack the light suffered,which exposed the scarand that's what it dislikedthe light groped for thingsthat rot in thick darknessno one could bind the lightand no one could lull its writhing to sleeptired and starved, the light stabbedthe eyes of things cryingthemselves to sleep and sucked on their tearsto cry in someone's steadthat's what it wantedno one could end that slumberno one could take inand care for that lifesomeday when the tears drythe light will leave,a place where no one diesand is never born again,would such a place even exista place where no one is bornand never dies again,would such a place have light [End Page 297] Jaewuk Kim Jaewuk Kim is a PhD student in East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California. His research interests lie in modern and contemporary South Korean avant-garde literature and film, particularly with a focus on Dadaism and Surrealism. He is currently translating a volume...