Publications by Tanya Ko Hong
These excerpts are from poems by Tanya Ko Hong (고현혜)
The Halfway Child (중간지점아이)
I call myself “The Halfway Child”
“Mother Tongue” (모국어)
“Reaching out in the night, I don’t know what
I’m trying to grasp.”
“American Dream” (아메리칸 드림)
Invisible like a ghost
Obedient like an Alaskan Husky
Deaf as a Grand Canyon Rock
One Summer Night (어느 여름날)
The Sun is going down--disappearing like me
Go ahead, eat me, eat all of me
I will watch how you steal my life
The Cost of Breath (숨쉬는 값)
Heartwood slow to open, to respire--
A deep elephant stretched
I couldn’t breathe
Gacela of Moonshine (가셀라의 문샤인)
I do not want to live like a shadow
I refuse to numb my dragon heart
Gacela of Moonshine (가셀라의 문샤인)
I do not want to please like a lotus on a pond
I refuse to remain a fingerprint on your thigh
Mother to myself (나는 나의 어머니가 되어)
In my kitchen, I become my mother and feed myself
Mother to myself (나는 나의 어머니가 되어)
I become my mother
I am cooking for myself