On Wedenesday I spent an enjoyable evening with my Creative Writing class, who have been a joy to teach and a lot of fun this semester. After starting out rather sedately with some pasta at “The Spoon”, things rapidly went downhill, due to the ministrations of soju, baekseju, dongdongju, beer and the strange Korean energy drinks which are like pre-emptive hangover cures. I’ve posted some photos of the night plus a few poems written by my students using internet search engines. They wish to remain anonymous. I can say, however, that the mittens below belong to Judy.
Why am I standing here?
I am standing here for election as a councillor
Pleased and honored as deputy
For the Parish of the Castel with which
I have a great affinity and where
I would intend to continue living.
Why am I standing here?
I am standing here to see my broken heart.
Yet her soul hasnít been completely gone
I am waiting to see the way she will turn around
And break my heart.
Why am I standing here?
I am also standing here for Islam and against terrorism
Fighting for their own liberty
And fighting for free Muslims Coalition.
Throughout my life I have asked myself
ìWhy am I standing here?î
Not so much in regard to the big
Itís just a question of existence, suffering and death
A matter of politics, religions and of course, love.
Thatís why I am standing here.
Judy, Min Jeong and Stella. Possibly 10pm.
Thoughts come back
Souls are awakened
Sums of experiences
A programming that reflects the inner turmoil of my mind
More and more
I awaken to thoughts
With worlds in motion
Transforming it into images in my mind
My spirit is soaring
Carried aloft on the wings of the breeze
As I gaze on this vast scene
My thoughts will journey far
Saemin, Judy and JinWon. Hmmm … 11pm? 7.30pm? Could be either.
Jotting down words to be organized
in pennies, Quarters, Nickels, and dimes.
The print and braille
in puffed paint.
The Blind want to be
Professionals of my author’s deeply felt spirituality
As with life’s ending and beginnings,
you’re in the wrong lane
When everything is coming your way,
and When you’re not right in the mind,
the left gets pretty crowded.
When someone asks you, “penny for your thoughts?”
you put your two cents down to feel what happens to the other penny.
Not forgeting the pupils
who were more than teachers,
braill is the fall that never shines yellow leaves
and the winter that refuses to let in the warm breeze
Lying in the hospital bed dying
It’s hard to get your mind around it at that time
Paul, HanJun (aka “Hawk”) and Stella. Paul looks wasted but he’s actually still in control. Maybe 10.30pm.
I love him
Anyways, I still think I love him,
But no one can ever say that
I never told him that
Transient Love,
Romantic Movie Stories with
Jon, Gregory,
Chris, Peter,
Mick, Mark
One Summer Afternoon
Love is transient,
Hate is transient,
Good is transient,
Evil is transient.
How could they be permanent?
Where is there any permanence in them?
You could say that they are permanent
Insofar as they are invariably impermanent
Is it a transient love affair
Or something similar to the US-Soviet policy
Of peaceful co-existence?
I don’t know
Jeremy, Min Jeong, Bae and Saemin get drunk as skunks, on professor’s orders. Possibly around 11pm.
I, Me & Myself
I have quite a few personalities who usually always quarrel within themselves.
The cynical me
The sympathetic me
The positive me
The negative me
The kind me
The sarcastic me
The snobby me
The narrow-minded me
The open-minded me
The preserved me
The outgoing me
Everytime I witness a quarrel
I canít let myself go
I just let them quarrel over the simplest things …
These quarrels continue until they find that there is no answer.
So I wait.
I am still waiting for these quarrels to end.
Although I now realize
The time that these quarrels end may be the end of my time.
Me, Min Jeong and Jeremy try to drink the street-makkolli as quickly as possible. Possibly some time after 1am.
The rain is tearing up my soul,
knowing that I am alone,
waiting for the moment someone comes.
Waiting every hour,
but still no signs of life,
as the rain keeps dropping on my soul.
One day like rain,
they will fall to earth
and grow green
all over the world.
All those moments will be lost …
in time, like tears … in rain, like smoke
†Aren’t they talented?
