Two Ways To Walk
(From Fires of Spring)
They eat dogs here, they eat dog soup!
And walkways are never level,
people are not so tall
cockroaches are bigger,
homes smaller,
children go calmly to school.
They eat dog! I'll never be like them.
Wings! Wings....
The corners of the temple roof
curve and curl up
like Wings in the Wind...
-A boy kicks a fish-bone my way.
I playfully kick it back,
recall the love
of Amida Buddha--
A teenager taller than I am runs by.
Homes are bigger than I'll ever own.
Rowdy children burst out of schools.
The roach in the gutter is my uncle.
The ways I walk are perfectly level.
I recall the taste of dog soup in July.
Jinju, South Korea
