Ten Days The bell shattered the silence. She opened the door ajar, the chain in safety; her heart leaps to see his face, the past ten days fluttering in her mind; little bird of time. He went to visit his siblings , and she didn't go with him. Law-daughter teased. He might not come back. It was our agreement, Mother said. shortened visit was not in his favor; her stay would be only a few days. When young, they were like, me-and-my-shadow togetherness; when old, they each have their own shadow; they even have their own space for ease. the ten days separation is water; water cannot be cut. ©Byung A. Fallgren
Author: Byungafallgren
Weekly Avocet
Shadow
Shadow (From Substance, Shadow, and Spirit, by Tao Yuanming.) There is no way to preserve life. Drugs of immortality are instruments of folly. I would gladly wander in paradise, But it is far away and there is no road. Since the day that I was joined to you We have shared all our joys and pains. While you rested in the shade, I left you a while: But till the end we shall be together. Our joint existence is impermanent: Sadly together we shall slip away. That when the body decays Fame should also go Is a thought un-endurable, burning the heart. Let us strive and labor while yet we may To do some deed that men will praise. Wine may in truth dispel our sorrow, But how compare it with lasting fame? "Substance Shadow, and Spirit" appears in Arthur Waley's A hundred and Seventy Chines Poems (Alfred Knopf, 1918). Tao Yuanming , also known as Tao Qian, is believed to have been born in the year 365 in China. He is one of the great hermit poets of ancient Chinese literature. He died in the year 427.
Double Disaster
Double Disaster difficult to buy a book at Amazon hacker's game have a cold and hay fever at the same time War in winter
Worry is not total Waste
Worry is not total Waste frog song lost its fantasy why wail? sky is hazy and the air smells of smoke bright red sun deer-eaten tulip and withering forsythia bloom roots are still alive ©Byung A. Fallgren
The Days When the Stars Wept
The Days when the Stars Wept
To be a youth was a curse in nineteen-sixties in the tiny corner of the world; the peninsular divided in two, South and North; joining in the bloody demos, after school hours, like extra-curricular classes. mostly out of patriotism; to rebuild the loose system. the more often the parties went on, the more of them fell, the petals in the storm. Everyone prayed in silence for miracle, to save them. Then the time had come; the night sky above the city was blazing; the air smelled of gunpowder. Everyone's heart leaped, but no one talked about it, in fear of the dark net that might swallow them. the old leader's demise, and the General assumed the Blue House as the frontier of the new age. Many years later, the childhood friends still gathered in memory of their brothers who vanished in the night wind. ©Byung A. Fallgren
Selkie Weaning Young (Redux)
Selkie Weaning young (Redux)
Diana Khoi Nguyen
Finding her hide we trailed
finger down then against
grains of fur thrusting shoulders into its waxy skin.
This is how she found us
the past draped about us like a cloak
hands separating peach halves from a care.
her form in the sound
a pandan leaf peeking through milk. The only seals in Vietnam:
American men with green faces.
Ms. Diana is the author of the collections Root Fractures, forthcoming
in 2024 and Ghost of (Omni dawn, 2018), winner of the 2019 Kate
Tufts Discovery Award, among others. She is an assistant professor
at the University of Pittsburgh.
May
May all night long gutter drums with drizzle Mother's heart Mother's Day poor daughter sends her selfie with a love poem Mother thinks that is the best gift she's ever received ©Byung A. Fallgren
The Weekly Avocet
Hal-abeoji’s Wish (Finding Uncle)
Hal-abeoji's Wish (Finding Uncle) is the picture book for children by Byung A. Fallgren. To view and buy the book for your children and grandchildren please go to: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hal-abeojis-wish. Excerpt from the editor's note: This is a children's book about the division between North and South Korea and how it affects families right up to this day. A young boy wants to help his ailing grandfather to see his brother again after many years and must first find him in North Korea. The story details how he goes about this, the actual process families must go through, and leaves the reader with hope for a reunion between the elderly brothers. This is a really important piece that children everywhere should read and discuss. While painful, the plight of separated families in North and South Korea is something that needs to be spoken of more broadly, and this book is a wonderful way to do that.
Byung A. Fallgren 