From “Hardly Opera”

Don Mee Choi

—tête-à-tête of flowers—

(still at the ambassador’s garden party in the middle of Seoul)

ROSE OF SHARON

How do you do
Mr. Ambassador?

DECLASSIFIED FLOWER

How do you do?
Modern style?
I do

—

AZALEA

Overly ovaries!
General Kim
How do you do?

ROSE OF SHARON

One shot!
No spots!
How many baby azaleas?

—

UPI FLOWER

Did something happen?
The world wants to know

ROSE OF SHARON

Syngman Rhee has left for Hawaii
Modern style of course!

—

UPI FLOWER

Do petals fall and bloom again?

UGLY FLOWER

Tell the world
We want
Coty powder!

—

CHERRY BLOSSOMS

O totally tether!
Does it tatter?

CLASSIFIED FLOWERS

O patter matter!
Do you batter?

—

BABY AZALEAS

O Coty potty!
Hoity naughty

FORSYTHIAS

O pat her met her!
Does she natter?

—

ROSE OF SHARON

I’d rather batter

BLUE HYDRANGEAS

Yes, ma’am

—
—end of tête-à-tête—

Berlin: 28.6.2019

The westerly wind blows across a patch of desert outside my apartment window facing north: the Deutschland Radio, the ever-spinning ring of Mercedes Benz, and the metal fences set up for the construction of new housing. Only the fences remind me of home—the endless barbed wire across the waist of a nation. A cooler temperature expected this morning before the heat wave arrives in a day. On 28.6.1950, in Seoul, three days after the war had begun, my father washed his face and looked up at the stars on a clear night, then decided to head out to the city center.

Don Mee Choi

2021

Wings of Return

I grew up in South Korea during the US-backed military dictatorship. I was born a year after General Park Chung Hee led a military coup and came into power. My father filmed the day of martial-law declaration in front of Seoul City Hall. Back then, he worked as a freelance photojournalist for UPI. The saluting lieutenant general is one of Park’s collaborators. The man in the background below the window, holding a small camera in front of his face, is most likely a police or intelligence officer. My father is at the bottom left, holding his film camera.

Don Mee Choi

2020

Poems

From “Hardly Opera”

More by this poet

Berlin: 28.6.2019

Wings of Return

The End of a Nation

Poems

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From “Hardly Opera”

More by this poet

Berlin: 28.6.2019

Wings of Return

The End of a Nation

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