5) Gone With the Wind
Wolran Kim
My father was the wind
While someone says his father was a servant
While someone says his father was a communist
My father was the wind
Whenever he passed by, flowers were whirling
All the plants that don’t have roots, with a whoosh
Fell down with a scream
Whenever he passed by, my forehead was chilled
And an icicle hung from my eyes
If the world was shaking, it was him
When the sunlight shined
Lightened infants sat holding the walls tightly
Forming a little knot of togetherness
If mother kept muttering
The wind was blowing
If a chill was waving under the roof
It was a short gust of wind
It was a day without even a hint of wind
My mother became a dot, waiting for the wind
When the wind that was wandering wildly
Disappeared higher and higher
Riding a balloon
Mother, waiting as a dot, became the wind
I read, as written Gone With the Wind
I write, as read Living With the Wind*
* In Korean, ‘Gone’ and ‘Living’ are homophones.