Do you still believe in spring?

by Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong

 
A lonely bird knocks 
on a kitchen window
 
Is there still a world? Deserted school 
playground, buttercup lip gloss, unopened,
 
cold french fries, uncertain future
Hope like rotten lemon juice
 
An ambulance siren sings 
Red and white glitter against 
 
sidewalks Tonight someone 
dies alone A patch of lotus
 
flowers exude fragrance 
Sunrise yellow, tea green, salmon pink
 
Though some think it dead, its seeds can
germinate for thousands of years
 
Later the lotus blooms 
magnificent in the deepest mud
 
I pray this poem finds in your darkness, 
hands reaching through ghost light
 
In the remaining space of this postcard
I write, I still believe in love


* * * * *
 
"Do you still believe in spring?" was inspired by the students of Tanya Ko-Hong's Fairfax High School Poetry Workshop during the pandemic. It was part of a virtual poetry reading (7 April 2021) performed in conjunction with artwork WE,OUR,US by LA Metro artist Susan Silton, for the future Metro Westside Purple (D Line) Extension Wilshire/ Fairfax Station.

A Korean version follows below.

 
 아직  봄을 믿습니까 ? 
                    
 
외로운 새가 부엌 
창문을 두드린다
 
세상이 아직 존재하나? 텅 빈 학교
운동장, 뜯지 않은 새 미나리 립글로스,
 
차가운 감자 튀김, 불확실한 미래
썩은 레몬 주스 같은 희망
 
구급차 사이렌이 노래하고
반짝이는 빨강, 하얀 
 
불빛이 인도에 반사하고
오늘 밤 누군가  홀로 죽어 간다 
 
진한 연꽃의 향내가 진동한다
해같이 노란, 차 잎같이 연한, 연어같은 분홍 
 
우리가 죽었다고 생각하는 연꽃 씨앗은 
수천 년 후에도 발아가 되고  
 
가장 깊은 진흙 속에서 
연꽃은 반듯하게  피어난다
 
이 시가 어둠 속에 있는 당신에게 
손을 뻗어 신비의 빛에 닿기를 기도한다
 
이 엽서의 남은 공간에
나는 사랑이라고  쓴다

Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong is a bilingual Korean American poet, translator, playwright, and cultural curator. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Tanya was the first Korean-American recipient of the Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award and the 10th Ko Won Memorial Foundation Literature Award in 2020. Weaving together two cultures, Tanya’s poetry gives voice to multiple generations of Korean and Korean-American women. Her most recent collection is The War Still Within  (2019, KYSO Flash). www.tanyakohong.com