Parental Guidance*

No strength to shift the body.
A room tumbles down like dreams.
Things fall off the shelf;
hit my body
hard.

I toss in bed like crazy.
The mirror breaks in black,
cuts my neck
a bottle cap popped,
a bud stabbing sorrow.


In a moment, my face awash
in palm blood; I start to cry.
A dazzling guillotine rope
rocks neckwards
from my skull.

As the entire body's ripped apart,
I laugh.
A glowing grin is thrown over me
like hot tea;
my heart stays far from blame.

Heat waves push the eyelids closed.
A match thrown onto flowing lava;
my bones, like flutes, my long bones
fill with fragrant god.
Feel skin pop,
a bundled silkworm.

Die like this!
No, no: live like this!
Life...you...beautiful star...luckless...
loving humiliation....




*A loose-ish translation based both on 난폭 ("Nanp'ok", violence) by 김승희 (Kim Seung-hee) and its translation, "Wanton Violence," by 김경년 (Kyung-nyun Kim Richards) and Steffen F. Richards.