"Short Cuts" and other poems

by | May 24, 2017 | Poetry

Short Cuts What kind of girl1 is allowed2 to traipse3 through snowy4 woods5 alone?6 Why7 wasn’t she briefed8 on proper9 procedures10 for fearing11 wolves?12 What good is a picnic13 for witches?14 If you keep the mouth15 talking,16 can appetite17 be forgotten?18 Is it...

The Peach Boy

by | May 17, 2017 | From the Archives, Prose

And so came the day when Momotaro, whose parents found him inside of a peach, grew tired of adventures and settled down with a samurai’s daughter. For years they found happiness, planting peach trees on their land, telling stories to each other—her tales of warriors...

The Eye of the Cyclone

by | May 3, 2017 | From the Archives, Poetry

A poplar tree shakes its wet hair in front of a mental hospital in Ch’ŏngyangni Maybe the night wind is blowing— the wind woven with the crazy birds’ hair I place a child on each lit window and leave the hospital the-chest-crushed-child   ...

Appleless

by | Apr 26, 2017 | From the Archives, Prose

I once knew a girl who wouldn’t eat apples. She wove her walking around groves and orchards. She didn’t even like to look at them. They’re all mealy, she said. Or else too cheeky, too bloomed. No, she stated again, in case we had not heard her, our laps brimming with...