Black Sky Research Articles

A Resilience Toolbox and Research Design for Black Sky Hazards to Power Grids

A structured collection of tools for engineering resilience and a research approach to improve the resilience of a power grid are described in this paper. The collection is organized by a two‐dimensional array formed from typologies of power grid components and business processes. These two dimensions provide physical and operational outlooks, respectively, for a power grid. The approach for resilience research is based on building a simulation model of a power grid which utilizes a resilience assessment equation to assess baseline resilience to a hazards’ profile, then iteratively selects a subset of tools from the collection, and introduces these as interventions in the power grid simulation model. Calculating the difference in resilience associated with each subset supports multicriteria decision‐making to find the most convenient subset of interventions for a power grid and hazards’ profile. Resilience is an emergent quality of a power grid system, and therefore resilience research and interventions must be system‐driven. This paper outlines further research required prior to the practical application of this approach.

Quantifying the effects of freeze-thaw transitions and snowpack melt on land surface albedo and energy exchange over Alaska and Western Canada

Variations in land surface albedo and snow-cover strongly impact the global biosphere, particularly through the snow-albedo feedback on climate. The seasonal freeze-thaw (FT) transition is coupled with snowpack melt dynamics and strongly impacts surface water mobility and the energy budget in the northern (≥45°N) arctic and boreal region (ABR). However, understanding of the regional variation in snowmelt and its effect on the surface energy budget are limited due to sparse in situ measurements of these processes and environmental constraints on effective monitoring within the ABR. In this study, we combined synergistic observations from overlapping satellite optical-infrared and microwave sensor records to quantify the regional patterns and seasonal progression in wet snow conditions during the spring snowmelt and autumn snow accumulation periods across Alaska and western Canada. The integrated satellite record included daily landscape FT status from AMSR microwave brightness temperature retrievals; and snow-cover extent, black sky albedo and net shortwave solar radiation (Rsnet) derived from MODIS and AVHRR observations. The integrated satellite records were analyzed with in situ surface air temperature and humidity observations from regional weather stations over a two-year study period (2015–2016) overlapping with the NASA ABoVE (Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment). Our results show a large (79%) mean decline in land surface albedo between dry snow and snow-free conditions during the spring (March–June) and autumn (August–November) transition periods. Onset of diurnal thawing and refreezing of the surface snow layer and associated wet snow conditions in spring contributed to an approximate 25% decrease in snow cover albedo that extended over a seven to 21 week snowpack depletion period. The lower wet snow albedo enhances Rsnet by approximately 74% (9–10 MJ m−2 d−1) relative to dry snow conditions, reinforcing snowmelt and surface warming, and contributing to growing season onset and activation of biological and hydrological processes in the ABR. These results contribute to better understanding of snow albedo feedbacks to Arctic amplification, and the representation of these processes in global Earth system models.

A Multi-Scale Validation Strategy for Albedo Products over Rugged Terrain and Preliminary Application in Heihe River Basin, China

The issue for the validation of land surface remote sensing albedo products over rugged terrain is the scale effects between the reference albedo measurements and coarse scale albedo products, which is caused by the complex topography. This paper illustrates a multi-scale validation strategy specified for coarse scale albedo validation over rugged terrain. A Mountain-Radiation-Transfer-based (MRT-based) albedo upscaling model was proposed in the process of multi-scale validation strategy for aggregating fine scale albedo to coarse scale. The simulated data of both the reference coarse scale albedo and fine scale albedo were used to assess the performance and uncertainties of the MRT-based albedo upscaling model. The results showed that the MRT-based model could reflect the albedo scale effects over rugged terrain and provided a robust solution for albedo upscaling from fine scale to coarse scale with different mean slopes and different solar zenith angles. The upscaled coarse scale albedos had the great agreements with the simulated coarse scale albedo with a Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE) of 0.0029 and 0.0017 for black sky albedo (BSA) and white sky albedo (WSA), respectively. Then the MRT-based model was preliminarily applied for the assessment of daily MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Albedo Collection V006 products (MCD43A3 C6) over rugged terrain. Results showed that the MRT-based model was effective and suitable for conducting the validation of MODIS albedo products over rugged terrain. In this research area, it was shown that the MCD43A3 C6 products with full inversion algorithm, were generally in agreement with the aggregated coarse scale reference albedos over rugged terrain in the Heihe River Basin, with the BSA RMSE of 0.0305 and WSA RMSE of 0.0321, respectively, which were slightly higher than those over flat terrain.

Nocturne

Nocturne Austen Leah Rosenfeld (bio) At night, the windows in our housebecome mirrors, as if to say what happens here will keep on happening. I press my face to the glassand seeblack trees, black sky, the moon like a pocket turned inside out. Below, I heara howl, which means our mother is dreamingwith her eyes open again. I don't go downstairs after dark but sometimesI talk to God from my bedroom. His voice soundslike pink and blue buds opening inside of me,like singing bruises. [End Page 145] Austen Leah Rosenfeld Austen Leah Rosenfeld received an MFA from Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in Salmagundi, Zyzzyva, AGNI, Indiana Review, Narrative, the Carolina Quarterly, and elsewhere. Copyright © 2018 The University of the South

The Image of the Invisible Cross in the Russian Lyrical Poetry of the 20th Century: From The Twelve by Blok to the Roman Diary by Vyacheslav Ivanov

Referring to works of four poets, the author analyses a special image of the “invisible cross” that appears when horizontal and vertical poetic images come into contact. In Boris Pasternak’s poem Winter Night, it is formed by the image of windstorm and candles in the first stanza, in Blok’s The Twelve by crossing the lines from the “black sky” to the “white snow” with the “wind line”. In Georgy Ivanov’s poem, the image of the “invisible cross” appears from the troika’s movement and the image of the falling “black music by Blok”. The image of “windstorm” in Pasternak’s poem and that of “Blok’s music” in Ivanov’s poem allude to The Twelve . All the three works refer to the same historical reality: the collapse of former Russia and the uncertainty of human destiny in the tragic period of history. In Vyacheslav Ivanov’s poem written in Rome on 23 May 1944, the image of the “invisible cross” is also present. However, it appears when comparing the first and second stanzas of the poem. The first stanza represents the European image of the world, which is characterised as “vertical” which is accentuated by the images of “Gothic churches” and “cyclopic hammer”. The second stanza represents the “horizontal” image of the world, characteristic for Russia, accentuated by the images of “ways”, and “rails”. Every stanza contains details adding to the sensation of instability of both historical entities. The third verse is like looking from space at the earth and at the historical path of humanity, which has led it to the current war. The image found by Ivanov could emerge as a result of his life in Rome and his memory of Russia. At the same time, the perseverance with which the “invisible cross” appears in works of different authors at different times makes the image typical of the entire twentieth century.

Traveler of This World

Traveler of This World Jidi Majia For Tomas Venclova Setting out from Vilnius, beginning in Lithuania,your homeland, crying in the wall shadows, withoutluggage. The pine-needled sky makes feartake refuge in the retinas. When nothingness dimly lights the road of exile, only gloomy wordsbegin to awaken. That’s the true country. Death’sdistance has been ground and shattered. Conquered, threatened, and hungry,the already weak and confused skull mutters like the black sky. Beech trees, chestnut trees, and rushesaren’t far from the abyss. Only pain and mutenesscan cross death’s borders. You reach out your hand and opencountless station doors. Gazing at unfamiliar city squares, a traveler. It’s better to forget the hissing flamesin the fireplace, the warm lanterns in the room, the tasteof hot tea on your desk. Because there’s no way to know if yourheartbeat belongs to tomorrow’s dawn. Behind the mirror perhaps there’s a last poem already written by fatein your mother tongue long ago. Like in childhood, at the doorway of the house.A key. A postcard. No matter how far you were banishedyour eyes still shine with a child’s innocence. [End Page 113] Copyright © 2018 University of Hawai‘i Press

Building Black Sky Resilience

Building Black Sky Resilience

And lo, the monster blackout was born. Data center security and black sky hazards

And lo, the monster blackout was born. Data center security and black sky hazards

Evaluation of the VIIRS BRDF, Albedo and NBAR products suite and an assessment of continuity with the long term MODIS record

Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model parameters, Albedo quantities, and Nadir BRDF Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) products derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), on the Suomi-NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite are evaluated with spatially representative in situ tower albedometer measurements and through comparison with the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) long term record. White Sky Albedo (WSA), Black Sky Albedo (BSA), NBAR, and Quality Assurance (QA) results show that the VIIRS algorithm is performing well at the global scale and is able to provide global data products comparable with the heritage MODIS (with an absolute bias of 0.0069 for shortwave broadband WSA) despite the spectral, angular, and effective spatial resolution differences between the two sensors. Both VIIRS and MODIS albedo are shown to agree well with in situ albedo measurements at a number of spatially representative sites. This evaluation provides confidence that the high quality, daily VIIRS BRDF model parameters, Albedo, and NBAR products will be able to provide the long term continuity required by the modeling and monitoring communities.

A machine learning approach to estimation of downward solar radiation from satellite-derived data products: An application over a semi-arid ecosystem in the U.S.

Shortwave solar radiation is an important component of the surface energy balance and provides the principal source of energy for terrestrial ecosystems. This paper presents a machine learning approach in the form of a random forest (RF) model for estimating daily downward solar radiation flux at the land surface over complex terrain using MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) remote sensing data. The model-building technique makes use of a unique network of 16 solar flux measurements in the semi-arid Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed and Critical Zone Observatory, in southwest Idaho, USA. Based on a composite RF model built on daily observations from all 16 sites in the watershed, the model simulation of downward solar radiation matches well with the observation data (r2 = 0.96). To evaluate model performance, RF models were built from 12 of 16 sites selected at random and validated against the observations at the remaining four sites. Overall root mean square errors (RMSE), bias, and mean absolute error (MAE) are small (range: 37.17 W/m2-81.27 W/m2, -48.31 W/m2-15.67 W/m2, and 26.56 W/m2-63.77 W/m2, respectively). When extrapolated to the entire watershed, spatiotemporal patterns of solar flux are largely consistent with expected trends in this watershed. We also explored significant predictors of downward solar flux in order to reveal important properties and processes controlling downward solar radiation. Based on the composite RF model built on all 16 sites, the three most important predictors to estimate downward solar radiation include the black sky albedo (BSA) near infrared band (0.858 μm), BSA visible band (0.3–0.7 μm), and clear day coverage. This study has important implications for improving the ability to derive downward solar radiation through a fusion of multiple remote sensing datasets and can potentially capture spatiotemporally varying trends in solar radiation that is useful for land surface hydrologic and terrestrial ecosystem modeling.

Letter

Letter Eileen Bartos (bio) They're tearing off the roof today,your letter said. You wrote from the darkof that half-emptied house, listeningfor the blackbirds and crows that gatherand mock in the overgrown juniperedging into the road. Afternoons you watch for the letterfrom the bishop, in the eveningyou tape paint chips to the bedroom walls.Every morning you climb the steps to the church. Forget shame.Have the workmen pry apartthe rafters. A husband doesn't leave like thatbecause the roof leaks; he leavesbecause he can't lace his own boots. Think of sun, sky, shelter. Thinkof the pink moss rose closed tight all dayin the lengthening shadow of the steeple. You have been looking for Godin the garden, among the cosmosand nasturtium; you have been lookingin the brushstrokes of robin's-egg satin latex. [End Page 155] But no, what if God is likethe crow, rustling unseenin the black sky, black branches,eyeing all that's been overlookedor left behind? [End Page 156] Eileen Bartos Eileen Bartos's work has previously appeared in the Georgia Review. Her story "Grace" was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. She lives in Iowa City, where she is an editor for the University of Iowa. Copyright © 2017 University of Nebraska Press

Using albedo to reform wind erosion modelling, mapping and monitoring

Wind erosion and dust emission models are used to assess the impacts of dust on radiative forcing in the atmosphere, cloud formation, nutrient fertilisation and human health. The models are underpinned by a two-dimensional geometric property (lateral cover; L) used to characterise the three-dimensional aerodynamic roughness (sheltered area or wakes) of the Earth’s surface and calibrate the momentum it extracts from the wind. We reveal a fundamental weakness in L and demonstrate that values are an order of magnitude too small and significant aerodynamic interactions between roughness elements and their sheltered areas have been omitted, particularly under sparse surface roughness. We describe a solution which develops published work to establish a relation between sheltered area and the proportion of shadow over a given area; the inverse of direct beam directional hemispherical reflectance (black sky albedo; BSA). We show direct relations between shadow and wind tunnel measurements and thereby provide direct calibrations of key aerodynamic properties. Estimation of the aerodynamic parameters from albedo enables wind erosion assessments over areas, across platforms from the field to airborne and readily available satellite data. Our new approach demonstrated redundancy in existing wind erosion models and thereby reduced model complexity and improved fidelity. We found that the use of albedo enabled an adequate description of aerodynamic sheltering to characterise fluid dynamics and predict sediment transport without the use of a drag partition scheme (Rt) or threshold friction velocity (u∗t). We applied the calibrations to produce global maps of aerodynamic properties which showed very similar spatial patterns to each other and confirmed the redundancy in the traditional parameters of wind erosion modelling. We evaluated temporal patterns of predicted horizontal mass flux at locations across Australia which revealed variation between land cover types that would not be detected using traditional models. Our new approach provided new opportunities to investigate the dynamics of wind erosion in space and time and elucidate aeolian processes across scales.

Comment from the Field

What does it mean to be disabled in a society that is always pushing for normalcy? There has been little, if any, scholarly attention focusing on perceptions and understandings of disability. Global disability research is still often neglected. We now have statistical data, but hardly any personal, real, and lived experiences of women with disabilities. These voices are hardly ever heard. Academia boasts the flourishing field of disability studies since the 1990s, but has yet to achieve a global perspective. Critical attention is needed. In this comment I attempt to be corrective of this lack of attention to perceptions of disability in the East. I aim to shed light on an altogether different understanding of disability and what it means to be a disabled Eastern woman, using my own experience as a starting point.I am a hybrid, born to a Palestinian mother and a Kuwaiti (Bedouin) father. At a very young age, I realized that I did not quite fit any category. As a hybrid, you occupy two spaces, two cultures, and start to feel like you have more than one identity. At school, I was not accepted by the Kuwaiti group, the dominant group, and yet I was not one of the foreigners, the outsiders. Language itself was difficult, I spoke two dialects, and because I tried to fit in, I ended up with many linguistic errors. I never really felt like I belonged. In more ways than one, I was not pure-blooded and not the ideal woman. By the time I graduated high school, I was diagnosed with a neurological illness, multiple sclerosis (MS). Add this to the mix: now I was lacking both in bloodline and the body. MS is a chronic and often disabling disease that takes away your basic abilities to function properly. It starts off in the central nervous system, the powerhouse of the body. MS usually affects people in their 30s or 40s. Very rarely does it affect anyone younger than twenty. I was only eighteen, and there was no explanation for it. MS is not genetic, not contagious, and science is still yet to discover why it affects some people instead of others. It used to be considered a disease that only affects Caucasians or people who live very far away from the equator. But it is on the rise in other parts of the world. There is a theory that after the Gulf War in 1990 many Kuwaitis were affected because of the burning of the oil wells and the toxic pollution that took place. I was five years old and living in Kuwait during the war, and I remember black skies, not being able to tell day from night. In MS, the immune system attacks itself, the body decides to reject itself. It mistakes its own cells to be invaders, attackers of the body. What does it mean to say that my body has rejected my own, ethereal self? I had no idea. Clueless as to what was happening, my life changed at eighteen. First, I had plans to study abroad. I could not, because of my physical limitations, as I was having trouble walking and using my hands. I ended up at Kuwait University, where I studied English literature. My passion was English literature, it has always been the greatest commitment of my life. As cliche as it might sound, I devoted myself to my studies during my undergraduate years. I knew I wanted to be a professor and I knew it would be no easy road. I learned to pace myself, to find alternative ways of writing, using the pen. I learned to conserve my energy levels. But mainly, I adopted a few techniques to try and live as normal a life as a student as possible.Back in the day, before I ever learned what ableism is all about, before I identified as a Disability Scholar, I was very ashamed of my body. And I was clueless as to how I could deal with it amongst my friends, my colleagues, and my professors at university. When I tried to tell people, their reaction would be one of shock or horror. Mostly, they did not believe me. MS was not for young people. It was a disease reserved for older people. Also, I did not use a wheelchair. There is a stereotype that all MS patients or people with disabilities need a wheelchair. …

Comparison of ground and satellite-based methods for estimating stand-level fPAR in a boreal forest

The fraction of absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fPAR, 400–700nm) can be retrieved from satellite measurements and is used to estimate and monitor ecosystem productivity and vegetation phenology. Although fPAR depends primarily on the Leaf Area Index (LAI), it is also influenced by the incoming radiation field and thus varies diurnally and seasonally. The overall aim of this study was to compare different ground and satellite-based fPAR estimates. The field data consisted of nearly 1000 plots located in the southern boreal forest zone in Finland. For all plots, data on canopy transmittance and forest inventory variables were available. We compared two different approaches to estimate fPAR and studied which satellite-based vegetation indices are best correlated with the instantaneous ground reference fPAR. Finally, a canopy fPAR model was used to assess some underlying assumptions of the satellite-based fPAR products: the similarity between instantaneous (at the time of satellite overpass) and daily-integrated fPAR. Results showed that allometric estimates of LAI and Beer’s law are not sufficient to estimate fPAR in a boreal forest, because canopy openness strongly influences the relationship between canopy LAI and fPAR. We found that vegetation indices calculated from Landsat were only moderately correlated (maximum R2=0.34) with the ground-based fPAR. Our study showed that the absolute difference between fPAR at the moment of the satellite overpass and daily integrated fPAR exceeds the 0.05 fPAR-units limit set by Global Climate Observing Systems −network in northern latitudes during the peak growing season. Thus, at high latitudes covered by boreal forests, the satellite-based fPAR systematically underestimates the daily integrated black sky fPAR.

Enhanced Statistical Estimation of Air Temperature Incorporating Nighttime Light Data

Near surface air temperature (Ta) is one of the most critical variables in climatology, hydrology, epidemiology, and environmental health. In situ measurements are not efficient for characterizing spatially heterogeneous Ta, while remote sensing is a powerful tool to break this limitation. This study proposes a mapping framework for daily mean Ta using an enhanced empirical regression method based on remote sensing data. It differs from previous studies in three aspects. First, nighttime light data is introduced as a predictor (besides land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, impervious surface area, black sky albedo, normalized difference water index, elevation, and duration of daylight) considering the urbanization-induced Ta increase over a large area. Second, independent components are extracted using principal component analysis considering the correlations among the above predictors. Third, a composite sinusoidal coefficient regression is developed considering the dynamic Ta-predictor relationship. This method was performed at 333 weather stations in China during 2001–2012. Evaluation shows overall mean error of −0.01 K, root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.53 K, correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.96, and average uncertainty of 0.21 K. Model inter-comparison shows that this method outperforms six additional empirical regressions that have not incorporated nighttime light data or considered predictor independence or coefficient dynamics (by 0.18–2.60 K in RMSE and 0.00–0.15 in R2).

The accuracy of satellite-derived albedo for northern alpine and glaciated land covers

Alpine and Arctic land cover can present a challenge for the validation of satellite-derived albedo measurements due, in part, to the complex terrain and logistical difficulty of accessing these regions. We compared measurements of albedo on transects from northern mountain land covers (snowfield, glacier ice, tundra, saline silt river delta) and over a large elevation range to the coincident 8-day MODIS (MCD43) albedo product. We also compared field measurements at snow covered sites to the coincident daily MODIS (MOD10A1) snow albedo product. For each transect, we measured a range of albedo values, with the least variability on the silt river delta (range = 0.084) and the largest over mid-elevation glacier ice (range = 0.307). The highest elevation snowfield (0.170) had nearly the same range of albedo values as tundra (0.164). The MODIS shortwave White Sky Albedo product (MCD43A3) was highly correlated with the field transect albedo (R2 = 0.96), with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.061. The MODIS shortwave Black Sky Albedo product was similarly correlated with field transects (R2 = 0.96; RMSE = 0.063). These results indicate that remote observation of albedo over snow covered and alpine terrain is well constrained and consistent with other studies. Albedo varied by ∼15% both spatially and temporally for the high elevation snowfields at the point in the season where albedo variation should be at its minimum. There were several instances where MCD43A3 albedo was not produced over snow and was instead classified as cloud covered, despite field observations of cloud free skies. There were also several instances where daily MOD10A1 albedo was produced during the coincident 8-day period at these locations. This suggests that the cloud mask in the MCD43 product is overly conservative over snow. Spatial variation in albedo within the MODIS grid cell (500 m), especially for snow and glacier ice, combined with the uncertainty associated with positional accuracy of MODIS, indicates that the accuracy of MODIS albedo will be dependent on both land cover type and the period of observation.

The Combination of Ground-Sensing Network and Satellite Remote Sensing in Huailai County

A sensor network was deployed around the remote test station at Huailai, Hebei province, China, for the purpose of substantially supporting the validation and application of remote sensing using ground-based earth observations. The observed parameters include soil moisture, solar radiation, albedo, surface temperature, and leaf area index (LAI). The ground sensors are equipped with automatic data loggers and a transferring unit that can instantaneously send the observational data to the data center using a wireless network. The observational data are then processed, analyzed, and published in online. After introducing the wireless sensor net hardware and software, some preliminary applications based on using the ground data to validate remote-sensing products are presented. The data of soil humidity from wireless sensor network (WSN) are closely related to those from the oven-drying method when the soil humidity is between 10% and 30%. From mid-July to early October, moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer land surface albedo product—MCD43B3—was highly consistent with the surface observational data from WSN during growing period of corn under an ideal black and white sky. Most of LAI of corn from LAI sensor are very close to the ground truth values from the harvest method. Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) land surface temperature was basically consistent with the ground measured data. It is suggested that the wireless sensors can be widely deployed for validating remote-sensing products.

Black sky: Exposing electricity as the Achilles’ heel of resilience

The national power grid is the most critical and the most vulnerable life-support infrastructure in modern society. Electricity serves as the essential element in sustaining every other sector of critical infrastructure including water, fuel and communications. Collective experience with responding to and recovering from widespread, long-duration power outages — known as black sky events — is nearly non-existent. Understanding these risks and weaknesses requires a collaborative planning effort with the public and private sectors to identify and protect critical nodes within the interdependent infrastructure to ensure that recovery from a catastrophic event is possible. This also requires a ‘whole community’ approach to planning and execution to facilitate a response on an unprecedented level.

A Blessing, and: At Sunset, and: The Small House on the Prairie, and: Some Kind of Diligence, and: One Evening, and: Morning, and: Evening Scene, and: At Qinghai, and: On the Qingzang Plateau, and: So Powerful!, and: Guts

A Blessing, and: At Sunset, and: The Small House on the Prairie, and: Some Kind of Diligence, and: One Evening, and: Morning, and: Evening Scene, and: At Qinghai, and: On the Qingzang Plateau, and: So Powerful!, and: Guts Lee Si-young Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé (bio) and Yoo Hui-sok (bio) a blessing A cat crept into a sack full of the yellow gingko leaves that the janitors swept together with care, and gave birth to six kittens. Those delicate creatures, their eyes not yet open, shaking their heads in the dazzling sunlight, looked just like God as a baby. at sunset Clutching an acorn, scampering uphill, that flying squirrel with earnest gestures, hands, and feet! the small house on the prairie Goat cloud spoke to sheep cloud: Let’s be off to home, you and I! Gazing at the setting sun on the red horizon, sheep cloud spoke: “No way. Last night Ma got dragged off, too. If we go home . . .” “Still, let’s go. It’s the only place for us to rest . . .” Sheep cloud plodded after goat cloud, toward the small house on the prairie. The first star came out behind them and lovingly lit their way. [End Page 79] some kind of diligence Ah, she has been here since early morning as usual. That old woman in front of the impressive Gyobo Building at Gwanghwamun, with a single ten-won coin rattling in her basket. one evening Dropping one dry leaf from its body, the autumn gingko tree sways briefly, establishing anew the center of the universe. morning One mullet left unsold, mild-eyed, prowls around in the aquarium. The storekeeper watches, his eyes narrowed. evening scene After finishing the evening’s work, the man in Bomi’s fruit and vegetable store, below Hana Mart, is watching a TV soap next to his wife, laughing, his head inclined to one side. If there is anything on earth that looks like God, I reckon it’s this. at qinghai At the entrance to Kumbum Monastery I met my dead mother. Her chin was quivering. I recognized her, but she said she didn’t know me. She didn’t know me at all. on the qingzang plateau Tell me, sheep, why do you spend the whole day nibbling grass? Once in a while lift your head and look up at the kindly sky. [End Page 80] so powerful! The evening sea rushing in with the tide is beautiful. Sometimes a sea lion is born out there, shakes its mane at the black sky, and roars. guts Where on earth, I wonder, does the strength of the mudflats that produce clams come from. Even in the fiercely boiling broth in a clam-soup restaurant in Insa-dong, there are some that to the very end stay tight-lipped and won’t say, their wide blue sea’s molars clenched shut. [End Page 81] Brother Anthony of Taizé Brother Anthony of Taizé has published more than thirty volumes of translations of Korean poetry. Recently, he published ten volumes of work by Ko Un, along with volumes by Lee Si-Young and Kim Soo-bok. Born in Cornwall in 1942, he has lived in Korea since 1980 and was naturalized as a Korean citizen in 1994. Brother Anthony has received the Republic of Korea Literary Award (Translation), the Daesan Award for Translation, the Korea PEN Translation Prize, and the Ok-gwan (Jade Crown) Order of Merit for Culture from the Korean government. He is also emeritus professor of English at Sogang University and Chair of the International Creative Writing Center at Dankook University. Yoo Hui-sok Yoo Hui-sok is a translator and a professor of English at Jeonnam University, in Gwangju. He has published numerous articles and books of critical studies concerning contemporary Korean literature and has translated books of literary criticism into Korean. His translations of poetry include Patterns by Lee Si-Young. Copyright © 2015 University of Hawai‘i Press

Four Poems

Four Poems LAWRENCE DUGAN A Name for the Theater A theater needing a name for itself Became The University of the Streets— Strindberg, Williams, Albee— exploring all The old valleys of discontentedness, The flawed republic of a southern county, A Scandinavian town with one honest Man in it, places where the truth was frail, From courthouse to bedroom, the unnamed art Of staged confrontation, performed again In a large East Side basement before dark Semicircles of folding chairs. Afterward Couples and loners scattered down Tompkins Street, as hopeful a group of people As I’ve ever seen, open to the thought, The idea become possibility, That this time the show would be memorable, That the Swedish preacher or Southern poet, Even playwright X from Connecticut Would find a method of lighting the stage. arion 22.3 winter 2015 Ad Libyam The Romans brooded over her The other city across the sea That challenged them as nowhere else And left them staring out at the water As if she were a place within sight of the City Itself. They were appalled by what they heard Of her rites and temples, the terrible offerings To impossible gods, the sacrificial flames At times consuming even the priests In gowns of fire. Later Virgil apotheosized Her as The New Town built by Phoenician pirates But that was after it all happened as It was all ordained. By then Hannibal was dead, Dido a myth, the city flattened and ploughed And rebuilt after a hundred years, still a beautiful harbor Ringed by the Atlas mountains, revived as a merchant’s paradise, Proud of her silver coins with elephants stamped on them, Still facing the perfect enemy, the perfect sea. four poems 2 What They Thought of It The trap-door in its belly was seamless Invisible at a hundred feet The men inside as snug as submariners, Napping beside a rope coiled Like an umbilicus to lower them, Attuned to a simple ancient sonar, Waiting for the ping or tap freeing them Or the smell of smoke, a little at first And then a lot, telling them they were doomed. Children loved its massive oak hooves Carpenters admired its oaken sturdiness A sculptor marveled at the ears and tail A philosopher searched for an axiom; The aesthetes were appalled, right for once For the wrong reason. Matrons Fanned themselves and shrugged, glad They had missed the nastiness earlier that day. The politicians saw both sides of the question; And as the sun set the giant gift almost Seemed part of a landscape, a familiar monument Along a shoreline, close to the walls of a great city. As they dragged it through the bronze gates One wine drinker slapped another on the back. Lawrence Dugan 3 The Empty Landscape For centuries those paintings were crowded With saints, soldiers, prophets, Mother and Child. Then they were empty and dark, beautiful Landscapes of a Holland the Dutch painters Had never seen before, filled with sand dunes Rising in the center of the canvas, Black clouds over a wave-crested sea, a ship Leaning into the wind but manned by no one We can see, its pilot invisible in the landscape, A Dutch world barren of religion, free From the old narrative of the Holy Family escaping to Egypt an hour Ahead of Herod’s posse, a solitary Angel leading the way to the pyramids; Free from the crowd at the foot of the cross, The lamentation of angels, the Mother’s Sorrow. Now there is a dark windy day Standing on a dune facing the North sea Swelling under an empty black sky. The fall And rise of many in the House of Israel Is far in the past, the wind-tossed dune grass Looks rooted in the barren hilly sand. four poems 4 ...