Sublime Kitchen
……………………..They came to eat the moon again
……………………. The women ate the moon and their bellies grew each month
……………………..They squeezed breast-milk into the moon,
………………………Added the refreshing scent of mint to the roasted moon
I caught a glimpse of her kitchen once
The secretive chirp of the cooks dressed in white
The swirling storm severing the necks of wild ducks
on hundreds of wooden chopping boards
It was a sublime kitchen
……………………. A guest with a child entered
…………………… Mommy, mommy, can I have a glass of tangy star?
……………………..She brought out a drink made of powdered rain cloud
………………………and floated an icy star in it
I caught a glimpse of her kitchen once
The rain cloud of flour mushroomed
and all kinds of dead animals’ blood flowed down the drain
the cries of countless spoons, chopsticks, fingers, toes
got sucked into the dishpan
It was a sublime kitchen
………………It’s time to prepare a midnight meal
…………….. She cracked the moon over the frying pan
…………….. a hole as deep as a fingernail appeared on the moon
…………….. then a flock of birds crawled out from the hole
…………….. with their wings that can be fried
…………….. The flock of birds spread their black wings
…………….. across the sky as the night deepened
…………….. She roasted the wings all night
Slobbered, chewed, licked, burped, chewed and chewed, sucked, tasted, drank, got fed nonstop,
swallowed and shouted Cheers! Eat more! Hey, Over here! One more bottle! Smacked lips, belched,
gagged
Like the lips that never once closed
the buildings on both sides of the street at night
the sound of them being fed the night sky through their huge openings
Everything was sublime
by Kim Hyesoon
from A Glass of Red Wine
publisher Moonhak kwa Jisung-sa, Seoul, 2004
translation Choi, Don Mee