now

and the hammer swings

and the sound passes through the air

whilst a pigeon cries outside my kitchen window...

a window,

that is half blocked off by kitchen shelves

- a sort of inbuilt window security system

(the shelves, not the pigeon...)

-- (then again this is korea so pigeons could keep many a female intruder away)

and theres the digging and drilling of the new airport subway line

filling my mind with the shape-sound of a well oiled drill bit

(sometimes when walking past all this noise i fear the snapping of chains

and objects plummeting from the sky

whilst the giant metal slabs covering the cavernous gorge in the earth

collapses and we tumble

samgyupsal, automobiles, ahjumas, ahjushis, students, and myself beneath)

all this whilst birds that i no longer want to shoot

are chirping about something

"you dig and toil whilst we sing"

is what i like to think theyre saying

happy with their own song

unbothered by the noise we make with machines

the whir of my now much beloved

air purifier

is a steady sort of hummmmm...

my pint sized refrigerator also joining in on the

white noise harmony going on inside my flat

-- sometimes i could swear that i can hear the smoke

drifting up and off my cigarette...

each day

with every passing moment

the sounds change

ceasing from memory

only to return with another passing breath

only to fade again

with the sound of my slippered feet slippering across my floors

to refill my mug that was made with love

with more

undesecrated morning coffee

this piece of writing

at times interrupted by the sounds of

editing

and spell checks

this piece of writing

comprised of the sounds

of my fingers speeding across the keyboard

(do you know how quickly a person can type with just three fingers?

and yet even with all ten i can barely play a tune on the piano)

a car

bongo truck

speeds by

as if pedestrians never walk these streets

im amazed at the lack of accidents that occur here

im amazed at and by a lot

why im here?

i dont always know

and sometimes this unknowing will break me down at night

and i fill the air with the ache of unknowing

but then the space fills me

with the joy of

becoming

... its no longer just

"the life ive lived"

it is rather now

"the life im living"

filled with daily sounds

filled with daily

"is's"

filled with daily

habits and routines

i am what is

and what is

i

am

brought into

being

(fully)

present

in all this symphony

of

"now"



kim thompson. 11.37 thurs 24 mar 11. seoul. s. korea