Seoul Poetry

서울시[1. Seoul Si, meaning “Seoul Poetry” or Seoul-si, meaning “Seoul City”]

Sam Moser

 

the train doors opened, yielding

 

the train doors opened, yielding

the day, splitting it open

like an overripe fruit,

spilling it out

over the city’s skeleton

of concrete bone

 

as the mad winds blew

as the quickening clouds coagulated, stirring

to wash the vomit (not mine,

of course, but a homeless man’s,

he, who shielded his eyes in shame

with a hand

and a bottle) by my shoe

 

as the hawkers sang weary

mantras for the sake

of a pair of sunglasses

and other things

 

as the monks beat wooden fish

their hollow knocks and holy

phonemes wrestling with the

universe to promote a pigeon

or two

 

and i, above all this, thought:

did i leave my

umbrella?

 

the music began on the way

 

the music began on the way

with the scratchy overtures

of the grandmother magpies

 

the stale cigarette sacrifices

on the wet blossom altars

in front of the bank

 

intrigued (or bored) i stopped

and squinted my eyes to listen (i

had left my sunglasses at home)

 

before me

a single chord emerges:

a new apartment building

 

 

Sam Moser is a 2014-2016 ETA at Soeui Elementary School in Seoul.