Bo Schwabacher’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in CutBank, diode, Muzzle, Redivider, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, WomenArts Quarterly Journal, Word Riot, and elsewhere. She teaches at Northern Arizona University.
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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: