thoughts in 2 parts

we are
these faces
(in a mirror)

mirrors handed to us
by
decades of white hands
decades of a system gone wrong

so we believed the lies...

cuz we needed truth

... cuz we needed something more
than
"i dont knows"
and
"she loved you so much
thats why she left you"

never questioning
the logic

... donning the uniforms
of
white middle class
conformity

cheerleaders
basketball players
track and field
athlete stars
marching band
and
"like oh my gawsh's"

... replacing
any kind of anger
questions
hurt
with
"please"
and
"thank yous"
and
"PTL's"
"praise jesus amen hallelujah
PRAISE THE LORD"

... like susan some of us grew up and forgot
(narnia)
saying
"oh yeah korea?
that was a nice game of make believe
now lets be grown-ups"

some of us like lucy
tumbled through a wardrobe
without hesitation
just believing

... i
more like edmund
was a traitor
...

wanting
needing to believe
angry from
not knowing
how to
name this
rage

...

II,

which one in this mirror is me?
which one of us is the
TRUE
korean

i am focusing
she is looking without knowing
she stares straight ahead

its the woman in the background
who haunts me most

korea's ghost

we are
products of our
country's
export laws

see now
what the west has won

see now
what the east
has

looked away from

she stares blankly straight ahead

oblivious
thinking us
"kyopos"

when really

we are
ibyang.