Hot, Redder Than Camellias Poem by Kinsley Lee

Yoonjoo Cho

In the job market of Guro-dong, people are seeking for job,
Since the day, and wandered like ice-floe
More days they couldn't find the job
And, turning away just like that day ten years ago.

I spread hunger out, white as a canvas, and draw the paints,
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple—too hardened
And old so it doesn't develop the colors well, by that paints
And faces on the drawing papers, starved by skin and

Bones. The faces are scattered in every directions,
Squeezed with all my might, the paints' lumps
Clings to each leaf in coagulations,
And it flowing in forming thin, long lumps.

The sound of breathing which grab the dawn by the people's lining.
'If you haven't eaten breakfast, they won't take you,
So you should assert to ate even if you without eating.'
People with years of experience hold onto their daily wages with skilled clue.

In the middle of winter
They get in the trucks, vans. and blooming
As the ephemeral flowers which compare with the camellias, the redder.
(May,2023. Translated by Kinsley Lee)