poems | essays | photographs
Moseulpo dreams (7:38 p.m.) …From the bus she sees farmers’ bonfires scratch the imminent dark interior of the island & the fat plumes cuffed by the sky | set in contrast to the toxic halo of a town’s crooning neon. The cemented path she walks runs off into dust | the street lights colliding with [...]
The next in my series Yoon Yong. In the previous poem, I used the word, malbok. Malbok is a word for the final, intensely hot days of August & the passing of Summer into Autumn. After (as they are now rattling my door) dramatic winds swipe in & push out all the heat & headache [...]
Hunger (8:39 a.m.) …I remember clearly… lepers from Bible sermons made me tickle stomached —I never read the passages alone even when mother underlined them to be read before I slept | I could summarize them enough to get away without reading them again : nature never bites off more than it can chew. “The [...]
A 2nd batch from Busan, focusing mainly on the dense old fish market, Jagalchi. So much fish & so many bizarre creatures i never saw before.
Children can be so cruel. Lil’ Spud queuing to pay for my basket of tofu, sesame oil, red chili & pumpkin seeds at the local mart— a boy, lil’ spud of a child pointed at me, singled me out &, with the menace of Mephistopheles laughed archly—no question, he directed the tip of that podgy [...]
Another from The Wallace Variations. After too much time in the spotlight of the media, Wallace needed to get away & visited me in Jeju. The Wreck of the Wallace He was a salvaged man in my B&B, the media’s attention started getting on his tits, he needed to escape interrogation & so took temporary [...]
There is a new world food mart opened on Hallim high street, to accomdate to the rising numbers of South East Asians, who work as deck hands, or in the harbour. The scent is lovely, & stays in your fingertips & clothes for hours. i go there just to smell the place & be made [...]
This poem first saw the light of day at FourTiesLitReview this time last year. i was grateful then & remain so. They are open for submissions, so send your best. This is a revised version from the original. Fishermen i find scorch marks, black smears barely noticeable against scoria rock hemming the sea wall, a [...]
Wonder how many people are going to search Google for an image of a Renault Twingo, haha. True story this. The photo is an actual photo of the breakfast i serve at my guesthouse. Breakfast it’s funny ‘cuz i served a pilot for Korean Air & he was completely normal : he didn’t go from [...]
A simple lyrical poem from the time i wrote as much poetry as i could in a week, which prompted me to start to write from my experience of my environment & life, which i was previously not doing & struggling to write any poetry; in fact until my Week of Poems, i was on [...]
Novelist, travel writer, nature writer; lover of people and place.
“ There, I am desperately free and naive; but knowing this oh dear happiness, dear misery; there is no distinctive sign except that one tearing one’s heart, and a smile destined to nobody(...)" E.Stachura
all about travelling in korea
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