“The American people have spoken”I’m American peopleSeldom ‘Herd’ I have voted in 13 presidential elections. My candidate has won 6…
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…
Well Played
The old woman, a pale red scarf tied around her head, dealsMany cards out slowly, face up, in front of…
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…
The Book of Time
He held the book that had been hard to find and might be harder to read. The old man in…
Daylight Night
Daylight struggled to break through all morningInto the afternoon the clouds hold onStubbornly extending their unwelcome stayRaining down on us…
Gone
I heard about it by word of mouth, you knowThe way gossip starts small as within a familyThen blows outward…
This Burning Wait
It consumes all of me is a dreamSinging red, yellow, and orangeAutumn’s dying days dance all downIn Korea choir the…
Autumn in Korea
Fade in place awayRain turn to mist in warm touchPhoto glowing giftsNo buried king’s goldMore treasured than you burningA face…
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…
What Happens in Busan
Whenever I saw the ad, I’d wonder what would stay thereAdultery, drugs, murder – what threshold needed to be metHow…
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,…
Communion
In a cave here, on a mountaintop thereKorea lives in me by bits and piecesBite-sized chunks I can drink inMelts…
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…
DMZ
The sounds of over there is ‘them’ and here is ‘us’Ghosts hear as if they were the honoring of some…
Bedazzled
In eyes I see here, my ancestors’ gaze cast by manyThere’s a hardness of a kind I can’t quite identifyAnd…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Lanning Lee 