cleverectomy asia-style

i was just re-reading old nhwc minutes in my procrastination before trying to sleep, and i was laughing out loud at how clever we all were back in the day. it was a great feeling to revisit the glorydays, as it were, and reminded me of how humbled i've been by living here in korea, where any pride i once had in my cleverness has been torn from me by the brutal reality of my inability to speak the language of the people with whom i now reside. oh yes, it is quite a thing to get into a cab and be unable to explain where you want to go, nevermind make small talk with the driver. the list goes on into infinity and though my korean vocabulary has grown in the past 8.5 months, it is still abysmal (though my mime skills are quite spectacular now--i often resort to grunting and pointing tarzan-like at things and using no verbs to say something is good or not good, etc...). ah how amazing it will be in 3.5 months to be in a country where i am capable of participating in impromptu witty conversations again! truly i cannot entirely wrap my mind around it....

p.s. one delight i enjoy exclusively here is the universal enthusiasm korean children have for the "high five" maneuver, which i am singlehandedly (or double-handedly in the case of the sporadic "high-ten") propagating across korea one immature palm at-a-time. that's right, in asia i can slap high and proud or low and slow with no irony and no shame.

paper crown

postcard matic nanopowrimo

Steve Ross provided this little number:
Postcard Poetry

I ride two-dimensional against
a heavy-tooth,
cardstock city.
It's a toupe season, lasting longer
than expected.
And I feel teal.
Gears grind over teeth and catch,
large ratio so I can speed past
my family into the thickening
clay haze
where there are no roads, no signs.


et vous...mes amies?

NaPoWriMo

so i think beth and i are the only ones checking this blog anymore, but just in case i'm wrong i will post this here ... beth has inspired me to participate in national poetry writing month. we have taken up the challenge to write a poem-a-day for april. woohoo! she is posting hers on her blog and i'm posting mine here: anicca.

hope others join in! nhwc 4-evah across the globe!