certain things

* soundtrack for reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4K2VTLZ7qc&feature=relmfu

certain things delight...
like
the moon
in the middle of the day
and
flowers growing
in the shade.
like
green growing from within
desolate-seeming
narrow
alleyways
and then there is
the smell of books
years forgotten
stacked to the first floor
from underneath the
earth.

in a place like this
the stars at night are few
thanks to modern urbanity
and humanity's fear of the dark
but still
if you look up
you can hear them
glistening
out beyond
the sound of green, orange, blue
buses.

in a place like this
where ahjushis spit
and ahjumas shove
silence can seem so impossible
but there is always space
to sit
and listen only
to the hum
of an aircon motor
and the sounds of
tires brushing against
black pot-holed streets.

in a place like this
where some days the smell of sewers hits
you can begin to believe there is nothing left
to take in
until
you smell the bread
baking just around the corner
that all the wafting of fermented cabbage in the world
cannot conquer.

in a place like this
where white pursues yellow
and yellow does everything to
make its skin look more white
than even they
you can forget
that there is something left to
pursue
and
when your phone rings
and you just
you just cant have the same conversation youve been having
for more than 3 years
a conversation you once said youd give your entire life up for
just to have one time
and now you have
given it all up
and cant have that conversation anymore...
you can forget
why it is you ever chose to return
...
until you walk outside one night
or day
and see small patches of green still growing
a garden of 호박 growing from a 무당 집
and you remember
that no
good thing
ever
truly
dies
only
re-plants itself
and
when your phone is finally silent
and you dont have to watch white
pursue yellow
and you just let the smell of
bread
and
cabbage
and
sewers
be
...
and watch the harmony
of moon in the day
and flowers in the shade

you remember
all these certain things
for
why it is
you stayed.

 - kim thompson. seoul. s. korea. some weeks ago in early august 2012