The arid deluge comes down

Summertime in Vilas ParkShe loves picnics, he does notHer idea of a picnic lunch is cheeseFrench bread, wine, and fruit … More

Well Played

The old woman, a pale red scarf tied around her head, dealsMany cards out slowly, face up, in front of … More

The Best of the Past Needs To Be Repeated

Now is the time to show we’ve listenedHeard our ancestors who spoke and still speakPerched rocking, brilliant in their ever … More

The Book of Time

He held the book that had been hard to find and might be harder to read. The old man in … More

Daylight Night

Daylight struggled to break through all morningInto the afternoon the clouds hold onStubbornly extending their unwelcome stayRaining down on us … More

Gone

I heard about it by word of mouth, you knowThe way gossip starts small as within a familyThen blows outward … More

This Burning Wait

It consumes all of me is a dreamSinging red, yellow, and orangeAutumn’s dying days dance all downIn Korea choir the … More

Autumn in Korea

Fade in place awayRain turn to mist in warm touchPhoto glowing giftsNo buried king’s goldMore treasured than you burningA face … More

Red burn of white paper, orange glow of rising smoke

He’ll always go home in that fitting brown aloha shirtFaded Reyn’s from years of favorite wear and washThe cycle repeated … More

What Happens in Busan

Whenever I saw the ad, I’d wonder what would stay thereAdultery, drugs, murder – what threshold needed to be metHow … More

Not Traveling Out

I have a friend who told me she is ‘traveled out’I’ve not reached that point, although there’s only one place, … More

Communion

In a cave here, on a mountaintop thereKorea lives in me by bits and piecesBite-sized chunks I can drink inMelts … More

Was It Only a Moment?

Losing pages dog-eared as my life like chapter timesRead my path like a book left fading on a pale benchWhen … More

DMZ

The sounds of over there is ‘them’ and here is ‘us’Ghosts hear as if they were the honoring of some … More

Bedazzled

In eyes I see here, my ancestors’ gaze cast by manyThere’s a hardness of a kind I can’t quite identifyAnd … More

I stare at the screen, 5:00 am, Korea time

And he says, “In this line, what does ‘it’ refer to?” I stare at the line then close my eyes … More

The Bulb That Bonds

When I’m here, I love the taste and smell of garlic more than usualWill chew it even in the morning, … More

Jogyesa Temple, Insadong, Seoul 10.22.24

Before breakfast, I cross the street outside my hotelTo visit the Jogyesa Buddhist Temple People of all ages and economic … More

The Same Language

It’s good to be back in KoreaA third time as charming as the firstLet the magic beginIn the fatherland I’m … More

Ode To Housework

Here’s to the broom, the mop, and the spongesThe cloths, the sprays, and the toilet bowl brushesTools of the exercise … More