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Two Poems  

Bo Schwabacher

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how to say “i love you” in Korean (wikiHow.com)

I don’t know what I’m saying when I say, “sarang-hamnida”
to the woman who runs Hanuri Korean B.B.Q. Restaurant.

It’s a formal way of saying I love you
to an elder, a stranger, one whom you respect

—she puts her hand on my back and walks me to the door,
“Okay, yeah, I love you too,”

which is an informal way of saying: you are my pumpkin.

I think I’m trying to say—i miss you and would like to take you out for barely
     tea,
or maybe asking a question: Where is the bathroom? & How do I get back to
     my hotel?

I am sick. Happy birthday. Stay with me.

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My Adoptive Mother’s Ghost Town: Jerome, Arizona

What is the
Korean

word for ghost?
My mother

took me to
a hotel.

There’s a man
in a cow

-boy hat who
watches you

sleep, she said
and left the

light on.
Her body

opened, a
dried cocoon: