We met in the warehouse, remember?
Dressed like members of staff
We spent all our breath
On a sluggish emulsion of words
Products famed far and wide
Sales relentlessly on the rise
Examining which products were in stock
We walked from one end of the aisle
To the other
And back
To where we came from
We didn’t take anything down from the shelves
We just roamed around like managers
Pens and phones stuck into pockets
Answering a call off to one side
Seemingly frozen solid
The products were state-of-the-art
An impressive array, a wide assortment
Touching them at random in an aimless search
Our line-up was impressive too
Everyone in the warehouse looked impressive
Before leaving the warehouse
Someone started to cry for no reason
Another one started to throw up
Another started to slap their own back
Standing slightly hunched
Another started to pace up and down
A few more started mimicking others
Visitors are requested to converse outside the building
Signs called for silence
But the room was in a flurry
As we bustled from one end of the aisle to the other
Before we leave the warehouse we recall the silence
Someone starts to bite their lip
The next one follows their example
And so it slowly grows quiet
More and more quiet
Until we manage to remain completely quiet
Vacation
On the seventh day of our vacation, we decided to go to Suwon.
What about Suwon, I asked. He said great
Shall we get going? Great
Suwon is bright and open
and I thought I wouldn’t trip over anything. Suwon is near after all.
But human skin will be floating around
We went by car. After passing two toll gates
outside Seoul, a string of tunnels appeared. Floating tunnels are great
It’ll be unforgettable. Trust me, it will.
We walked along the fortress wall. People were standing in line on top of black and white rocks. Great, a whole group of people standing in line as if everything was agreed upon. A jumpy dog was jumping around.
So this is where you’re going to live from now on.
I’m not stopping you. Let’s walk a little more. No, let’s stop here.
There was a moment of excitement. On top of deceased time.
I thought we would lean against each other without budging the slightest bit, like strange rocks standing upright after floating in from afar. I’m not stopping you. Who knows, maybe we look like that, I thought.
We finally reached the palace. It’ll be unforgettable. Trust me, it will.
Let’s laugh a little
as if we’ll suddenly disappear.
Great, but we wore our white boots today.
We just really looked like we were stitched together.
Pi
Out on the veranda
A clothes hanger spins in circles. The clothes hanging on the hanger
spin along with it.
I wore those clothes yesterday but fell asleep
following the worn-out stitches.
The clothes spin there by themselves.
The clothes are all wrong now.
Come tomorrow, they won’t go back to being right.
And a handful of daylight escapes.
But every day
I dream of wearing clothes.
As my body is no good
it spins all around the house.
My dream seeming to continue
Do you want to come out?
Someone came looking for you
Who’s standing there? I can’t really see
The dream of wearing clothes again
The dream seeming to last forever
Looking down from the veranda
Clothes keep spinning in circles.
In Summer We
In summer we meet. When we meet we look great. In summer we can’t go far and we can’t see the storm coming, so in summer we break our house down and go to a nearby street stall.
Whenever works
Street stalls afloat in every direction
Shall we sit over here? If we push our table this way, another appears over there. Anywhere works, we have a lot to talk about, let’s put a few tables together
In summer we sit on green plastic chairs. The chairs creak and pop when moving front to back. Listen up, I placed my cup upside down and broke the claws of a crab off. Now you won’t lift your claws anymore.
In summer when a low pressure zone spreads, street stalls spread too. If we are where people spread, we look great. Drinking everything at once works, right, it’s a great idea, raising a glass
It’s great
Even if not a single familiar face shares our street stall moment
In summer we meet. When we meet we talk to ourselves. In summer we don’t want to go anywhere and in summer we don’t do anything and whenever works—we snap each other’s necks off for once and for all. Messy tables are great.
Always Like New
I dust off my clothes. I wear my clothes always like new. Always-like-new mold gathers in the always-like-new air.
Always-like-new tears well up. Today I eat my lunch intact.
There is no winter and there is no winter swimming
In the afternoon I sit on a chair with its paint chipping off. I move the narrowing light from the window to the bookstand to the table and then I stand it upright for a while under the door. My feelings keep changing and the guest register I wanted to prepare changes too, turning me into an uninvited guest and making all my feelings disappear. I don’t know many people coming.
Listening to a relay broadcast is most fun. The excitement of the anchor raises the volume and yet the day grows dark before long. The window is filled with darkness.
I look like a gaping hole, drilled through the dark
As Night Falls Daily
As night falls daily
We are the night.
We hesitantly go out for tea.
Pausing what we’re doing
As we’ve already lost the day
We have nothing left to do
We keep losing the day.
Nights when balls fly giddily through the air
They’re dangerous
When night falls my eyebrows disappear
So I cry.
I thought you’d died
So I cry.
At night I rust away
Afraid of a ball flying at me
From some other place
I imagine jumping up and shouting, “My ball!” I look strange shouting like that
Night falls too fast
With its dirty air and
Motionless clouds
Let’s pause what we’re doing
We don’t have to carry on
We are the night.
