The Bulb That Bonds

When I’m here, I love the taste and smell of garlic more than usual
Will chew it even in the morning, raw or pickled depending on the courage
Of the breakfast buffet manager and how rural the location
There’s something about the way the air fills your lungs in Korea
Pushes out the toxins you’ve carried with you from your other home
Garlic enhances this process
So many of us do it –
Note how I use ‘us’ to refer to the Korean person I’ve become when I’m here –
Tucked in tight with my garlic-loving Korean brothers and sisters
Here where none of us are bothered by the odor
First, because we bathe and brush our teeth,
And second, because when we’re packed together this way
Our garlic scents swap in and around us
That garlic goodness swaddling us kimchi nation babies
Our detoxified roots sunk deeper and deeper together into the place
Where olfactory concerns give way naturally to acceptance
Our communal journey back into the earth
Garlic, our deepest bond
Taking every one of us back there together