roads go
in two directions
the trick
is turning
right
even if
it’s left
Month: December 2017
“What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.”
from Douglas Moore’s blog Art of Quotation
“What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.”
Elie Wiesel, writer, holocaust survivor, writer, Nobel Prize
except in my memory
the way
you handled
books
as if
they were
sacred objects
you were not
my type
and yet
you were
exactly
what I was
seeking
how did I
misplace you
forever lost
except in my memory
“How to fight loneliness” by Wilco and Choi Seung-ja’s “In order not to be lonely”
another Korean poem translated into English and a Wilco song translated into Korean by Geul on the blog Cardiac Slaves of the Stars
I serendipitously discovered two poems about dealing with loneliness. One is a song by Wilco, an American alternative rock band from Chicago. I translated the English lyrics of the song into Korean in case anyone out there was thirsting for a translation. The other is a Korean poem by Choi Seung-ja, which is translated below.
How to fight loneliness – Wilco
*
How to fight loneliness
Smile all the time
Shine your teeth ’til meaningless
Sharpen them with lies
And whatever’s going down
Will follow you around
That’s how you fight loneliness
You laugh at every joke
Drag your blanket blindly
Fill your heart with smoke
And the first thing that you want
Will be the last thing you ever need
That’s how you fight it
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
Just smile all the time
외로움을 싸우는 법
항상…
View original post 143 more words
my words
my words
come back
to me
in the night
reminding me
of all
I’ve said
and all
I’ve wanted
to say
At Muneui Village by Go Eun (Ko Un)
another Korean poem in translatıon by Geul on the blog Cardiac Slaves of the Stars
(translated from the Korean by geul)
I went to Muneui in winter and saw.
How the road that led there
barely met others that split off.
Death wishes the road be desolate as death itself.
The roads close their ears once with dry sounds
and extend out toward the cold side.
But life turns around on the road
to return to the sleeping village to let fly the ashes
and because I abruptly cross my arms
the far mountain is too near.
Snow, you cover up death, what more will you cover?
I went to Muneui in winter and saw.
While holding life in its arms,
to the end, Death declines an individual death
then hearing the sound of people
it goes forward a ways and turns to look back.
Because everything is low
in this world the snow falls
and no matter how we throw stones
they do not…
View original post 20 more words
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when… “
from Douglas Moore’s blog Art of Quotation
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
– Elie Wiesel, Romanian, American, writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor,
waiting still
let the sun rise
let it set
let the winds blow
the house quake
I am here
waiting
still
something else
the mornings
were almost perfect
in those LA days
but the nights
oh the nights
were something else
a world of changes
the cat
wraps himself
around my arm
his only constant
in a world
of changes
the unknown
future
just outside
the door
Leonard Durso 