beneath the pregnant swell of graves
an inverted bowl, unhulled rice grains scatter
mother dreams of her father three years later
wrenched shoulder of earth
his fetus curls shrimp-like
thick black ink seeping
tears in white paper envelopes
money in threes or fives or sevens
the dead lie with their heads to the north
milky froth of rice and yeast
snapped, the stalk of barley
head pulled down by the weight of seeds
pine-roots-piercing-ancestor
my name burned from the book of the dead
line-of-connections-descendant
and so receiving
the bones from father
the skin from mother
Hyejung Kook’s poetry has most recently appeared or is forthcoming in Hyphen Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, wildness, and Glass: A Journal of Poetry. Other works include an essay in The Critical Flame and Flight, a chamber opera libretto. She is a Fulbright grantee and a Kundiman fellow. Find more of Hyejung’s work hyejungkook.tumblr.com.