sun yung shin

 
 

 

PALEOLITHIC REMAINS

 

II.

                               The unearthing of carbonized millet

“All the proof we need”

the bones of animals at both sites

                                 “cultivation and hunting”

On the east coast of the Yellow Sea the children remove their canvas shoes

               Bend to meet the slap of sea water

                      Spit out salt & weed

The paper dry body of an anonymous fish lies like a fragment of old silvered glass

 

In the north, a long fence and a hidden forest

        Spirits walk the length of it
                                gossip

                 The fishing people went into the plain-pottery people

Became them, to become another, to leave
                                   
                                                                                                        what your fingers and hands bend and tie

To dig clay from the earth

       Dust-red slip

Arms washed clean from a water bucket

The wood across your back, feet making a path like a dry riverbed

                                              Rocks holding their breath

(the memory of slick and glitter)

       A moss pillow for the weary or lazy

A bull mask with a gold ring lies in the future, among the tongues of mothers

The necessity of becoming

                                 the plain-pottery people

Beggar or chooser

Gift of a stone axe, a stone net sinker

Was the first to cross over a woman, curious, or alone

                                                 The exchange of a child

The gift of a child

A child lost on the way to gather (fire)
                                               distracted by a moving stripe

                                        follows a snake through the dry leaves

                                                     surfacing

                                                          tasting the air

On the opposite shore of the Taedong River

                      No bridge but the cold reflections of clouds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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