Poem: Mourning Cuisine 애도 요리
mourning cuisine
i have truly lost something important
yet i cannot remember what that something was
a vague form may come to mind at times
faintly, the scent might soon be caughtbut when i walk into my dreamsi cannot touch or see anything
neighbors gather in the yardthey plan to hold a funeral for an unknown somethingwithout my soul of mind considered
my heart is less ripetrembling with a crispy sound, shivering
the summer night is filled with humidity,the crowd drenched in sweat,barely manages to position their thighs on chairsand between their jostlinga horrendous rotten smell emerges
ding-dongthe bell tolls, and the moment for silence begins
meanwhile, i’m at the back where the event unfoldsin a tiny kitchen vibrating with the stench of fishy tastei bring out a newly bought Chinese knifeto dissect the clump ofblood-stained flesh of your bodyi even try to scrape offthe already-hardened skin with the bladestruggling with all my might,i thrust the knife into the flesh to cut through it finally,with the pieces of the dismembered bodyi ponder whether to fry,to boil,to roast themthe assembled neighborsrub their sweat-stained soles against the floortheir joints creaking as they bow twicein front of an empty picture frame
the savory aroma emanating from the kitchensneaks through the window to the yardthe hungry crowd begins to swim towards the back near the kitchen withanticipationin mourning, there is no starting point nor destination he saidmy voice is nowhere to be found suddenly, within mei unearth a vibrant blue crayon heart the sensation of loss is too dreadfulso from now onto quickly forget the fact of lossi vow to lose myselfin order to forget
Seokyoung Yang is a Korean-born filmmaker, poet, and film curator with LA Filmforum. Yang works in Los Angeles and Seoul.