Hummingbird

Hummingbird

---To Georgia O’Keefe

1

A tiny bird’s long beak is

penetrating into the nectar of an oasis tree’s flower

on the New Mexico Desert.

Two wings constantly are flapping

in the air to stand still.

What kind of wings are they?

One step backward from the flower

and two steps forward

in mid-air

toward the flower

(No other bird can fly backward!)

2

You are the most beautiful flower in the New Mexico Desert.

I become a hummingbird

flapping my wings 90 times per second

to be engaged in an aerial warfare

with the fragrance of the flower for one ounce of honey.

3

The 10-centimeter hummingbird

is descending 80 meters per hour.

New Mexico Desert

from the sky to the earth

is full of your fragrance

via hummingbird.

Renate Hong----Who can blame this German Woman?

Renate Hong
----Who can blame this German Woman?

A young German woman fell in love with a North Korean student at Yena University in the 1960s. Their first love overcame the national boundary line, color of skin, ethnic looks, and language differences. They married and the first son was born in a year and another pregnancy came in joy and happiness. Then, the young father had to return to North Korea. Recall from the Communist Party! They parted at the Yena Railroad Station with tears. He promised her that he would return. She did not doubt his words. However, his promise was not fulfilled in the following 48 years. In those 48 years, she wrote mountains of letters to the North Korean Government, the International Red Cross, the United Nations organizations, and South Korean president Kim Dae-jung who earned the Nobel Peace Prize to get back her husband. Finally, she received a letter of invitation from her husband in North Korea. She prepared multiple photo albums for hundreds of photos of their two sons from their childhood to adulthood. Then the despair: visa was denied from the North Korean embassy in Germany. She sent many letters again to North Korea and finally received the visa. She and her two sons were greeted by her husband and their father, and his daughter from his second marriage to a Korean woman at Pyoungyang airport. They spent three nights together. He handed a short note to her at her departure:
“I want to see you in Berlin next year!” Next year has not come yet. She does not know when next year will be.

Who can blame her fatal attraction to a North Korean student?

Who knows their love story?
All humankind should know and read their love story.
Their love story will touch all humankind.
They met when she was 21. Now, she is 71 years old.

Who drew the national boundary line?

Who invented the passport and visa?

Freedom to see her lover should be respected and admired with tears from our eyes.

Army Second Lieutenant

Army Second Lieutenant

Everlasting youth and vitality

inside the rank of army second lieutenant.

In the hot and humid summer training camp,

I was always the last cadet in the standing on the ground.

That was most unforgettable part of my college life.

While Lee Mi-ja’s Camellia blooming,

Dancer’s First Love was revived as the chorus song

in the weekend R and R session

on the darkened ground under the starry sky.

The Youngchon Officer’s School, our last schooling,

and the Second Korean Army Hqs. in Taegu City

I served the first year were surrounded by apple orchards

have provided an enormous experience to my life and poetry.

When my ears were familiar with Taegu woman’s accent

and intonation,

I had to leave the attractive woman’s city for the front line.

There I ran Euijongbu, Moonsan, Dongduchon and Pochon, and

finally crossed the 38^th parallel in one evening.

I realized that Imjin River was the river of the division and that

The moon over the demilitarized zone was the same moon

I saw when I was young.

After two years tour, I returned to my graduate school,

but I still love that young officer’s rank.

I prefer one diamond to one star,

because I see my youth and vitality forever

from that diamond.

Mother

Mother

1

The most beautiful breathing is my mother’s.

Her heartbeat is irregular,

but breathing.

That is the most comfort I could get from the night.

Breathing I hear from my mother’s bedside

is mine or hers, or both of us.

Do you know 

my mother is still alive,

next to me?

2

Rejoice in her abounding grace.

3

Mother suffered the anguish of dying,

but I only remember her love,

mother of abundant and unconditional love

always and forever.

My Country

My Country

Mountains over the mountains,

I can only hear a cuckoo’s song.

Among the layers of the mountains,

I can hear only the cuckoo’s note

in green, green, green of the home.

The distant hills look much too near.

Landscape

Landscape

Backyard became villagers’ permanent resting place.

High bell tower of a small country church

is higher now than before.

The village is blessed under warm sunshine.

Retiree’s last words

Retiree’s last words

           Yearn Hong Choi

The retired teacher sent his books to his country hometown’s library

And to his close students as Christmas gifts.

He did not know where to go next.

Packing the books was a war against dust.

Although I did not open the windows all those years,

The dust invaded my apartment, and covered my books,

Art works and furniture.

I had to fight the black dust for several days and nights.

I threw out many things to the recycle bins: my scrapbooks, papers, and even blankets.

I paid money to dispose my TV set, record player and furniture.

I could not dispose my body, so that I found a way out: a public bathhouse

To clean my dusted body and soul. But the soap could not remove all the dirt.

So I remained in the bath house for a while,

Thinking of my next destination.

When I go out, I will follow the direction of wind:

I will go to the airport to take a plane to a tropical island:

I don’t care which Island, as long as it is warm enough to not need a blanket,

And as long as it is primitive enough to see Paul Gauguin’s half-naked women.