Guns and Musubi

I went to 7-Eleven this morning and found myself standing in the checkout line behind a police officer. Now me, … More

Old Acquaintance

It’s been a long, long time since we three got together to drink beer. Each of us says that he … More

Everything Is Connected

I sit listening to the ocean lap as the sun rises from the east,follow its crawl up the sky from … More

Seating Assignment

I’d been praying, walking down the aisle, my carry-on black Adidas bag held out in front of me so as … More

Anesthesia

“Mister Lee, are you awake?”        The thick, long blue curtains are pulled back, and light slips into the tiny room. … More

Into the Woods

Jill and I are hiking Tantalus, and as is her wont, Jill’s decided to be a trailblazer.  As we wander farther … More

This Old Piano

When I sit down on our piano bench, the piano nearly 60 years old now, I am comfortable enough. I … More

The 38th Parallel

I’m standing next to my Uncle Wonnie.  He’s peering through a viewing slot in the bunker.  The opening is about six inches, … More

Violence

When he’d done something wrong, Jerry wouldn’t go home. “Wrong” could be a poor class proficiency report from school or … More

And this, too, is Paradise

Here in paradise they’ll paytake me to Hawai‘i neiHome of Diamond Headpearly shells from the oceanTourists negotiate the poornight and … More

Forbidden Fruit

When I was a kid, I’d walk up my hill on the way home from school.There was a place halfway … More

The Ending’s Beginning

This is the end of it, I think, standing stiff after 7 hours in the air,the snaking line of terminal … More

Going Home

The first time I visited Korea, at age 65, I dropped out of the sky,a stranger in a strange land, catapulted … More

The Fashion

That was your style for a while, a momentuntil the next idea hit you, what’s trending,your tastes turning like stiles, … More

Past Judgment at Starbuck’s

I don’t know you, but I’ll go ahead and guessoddly, measure you out in teaspoons, tick-tock,another spoon and dip and … More

For a Moment

They’re all young, blonde university students,have an intelligent look, wear sweatshirts,NYU, Brown, Syracuse, places that requireacademic effort prior to entry, … More

It’s Wednesday, it’s raining, and the dog needs to go out.

Billie – I’ll call her Billie – sings her soft blues now,not a bark or a howl, but a throaty, … More

Do Them Part

Someone wake him before he dreams of her again.On the shore, two with pants legs, their cuffs rolled upto save … More

Traditional Change

It’s billed as A Match Made in Heaven, a revered traditional Korean love storycarried down from a bygone age to … More

Hand in Glove

Korea’s a glove, the fingerless kind.A palm rests snug in it, the half warm, half clean, partprotected from the elements, … More