Autobiography Poem
Creates three quarters Korean and one quarter mystery…
A mystery that my father has chased.
A past seemingly erased.
Never quite accepted as Korean
Nor fully an American…
Because my eyes slant and I tower among the trees.
I am quite contrary, but no one wonders how my garden grows.
From
From the south up to the north, never in one spot
Long enough to feel settled.
As a result, I can never stay still for too long…
Knee jerk! I get antsy…
Even in love, I contemplate my ability to stay for long,
Because I stayed too long and it was poison.
Did I mention that I dropped my brother when he was just a month old?
Or that I used to sneak my sister out of her crib to sleep with me
In my big girl bed?
Do they remember what remains imprinted so warmly in the archives of my head?
I love to speak with food… Express with music.
My voice is never missed with my meatballs and sauce.
Molded with intent and with confidence I express my desires.
My desire to create a unique experience every time with food… with music…
I write my own songs and people are surprised by that.
Music runs through me… It runs me.
Even if I run from it, it finds me wherever I go. It settles me…
It is the only thing that settles me.
I see great things in my life, from
From friendships long withstanding, to the mistakes I have made.
We’ve all been careless… I crashed my
Because I was on my CELLPHONE!
Yet with the rising of the sun comes a new day… A chance to set things right.
“The Fabulous Life of (fill in the blank)”
Floss
Mouth wash
Creamer
Tooth brush
Toilet paper
I will run to Target for a mechanical toothbrush and I will most likely spend more than $30.00 for one. I will leave with T H I N G S I don’t need! Wasting my money, wasting the time I take to care for my autonomy. Of this I can stake my life on. These thoughts run through my head as I shampoo, rinse and repeat…consumerism. Sausage and eggs choke my nostrils and fill my belly before I start the daily grind.
Go forth and be fortuitous with your heart. Be generous with your kindness and be responsible for humanity for it is humanity that sustains, renews…and revives us…
Imperfect Beauty through the looking glass
My skin is pale and blemished.
Lines and crevices that reveal my time on this earth
like the rings of the trunk of an oak.
“Beauty is only skin deep,”
I say aloud…
I see that my flesh has been added onto,
smoothed like the clay that is glistening
with water on a potter’s wheel.
I shall never fret this because the alternate is unwomanly.
Besides, you can’t take it with you when you die.
I love the way my clavicle protrudes with prominence.
It is so pronounced, yet only few understand the subtleness
of this treasure of mine.
My eyes are tired, but they are beautiful.
They are beautiful because they have seen so much and
they never hide anything if you look deeply enough.
I see myself through the looking glass
And I see an imperfect beauty.
Man Down in the Outback
The end I mean…
You set off to save the wildlife in your Cessna.
The wing busted mid-flight as you tracked Rhinoceroses.
You hit the ground and when you came to,
The entire weight of the plane had shattered every single bone in your legs.
As you lay in agony, the sun scorched your tongue,
slowly cooking you from the inside out.
Death crept into your legs.
It worked its way up your toes and through the marrow.
Your feet were swollen and you feared gangrene.
The least of your worries…
You endured the excruciating pain, for your will to live was strong.
The muscles in your leg took on a path of their own as they convulsed wildly.
Each wave sent the shattered bits of bone into the sinew.
It was the lactic acid, one of the body’s last lines of defenses.
Vultures hovered above you and you felt It’s shadow lingering around you.
Lionesses were lying in wait, Hyenas jostling the tall grass…
You managed to stave off your demise with the banging of metal,
scattering your predators into the outback.
Night fell and the odds continued against you.
There would be no rescuers at night.
You would die soon… you were sure of it.
As you shivered through the night, your eyes fought to remain open as you waited
for dusk…Any dusting of light as your sign that you had survived even the night.
The sounds you must have heard in your lucid state.
Then suddenly you fell asleep.
It was the most wonderful sleep you had ever experienced.
As your eyes fluttered awake, the pain in your legs was gone and you stood up and walked away from the plane crash amazed.
You began to run… fast…faster until your legs gave out and you began to fly away
Happy that you had survived.
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