I just bursted out loud laughing in the gym.
Maybe it’s because my grip just slipped
trying a heavier weight on lat pull down
on my last set of twelve reps,
maybe it’s because I just survived
a set of barbell squat with all my might
on a weight less than half of that in my peak time.
or maybe it’s the voice of Beyoncé
ringing like the crystal halo in my AirPods.
Whatever it is,
all at once, it all came crashing down.
The joy, oh how so glorious and light it is!
Everything, the air, the weight, the people, fell into its places, like puzzle pieces coming together.
I wish to share this light with you.
Because I know what it felt like to be there.
I hope this will come across to you.
5.11.2026
Tag: memory
Burning
Will
Origin
You would have said, “come on, do it again —
forget about them, remember what matters”
I remember the scratch on the skin,
the scrapbook full of cutout pictures, and the pens.
a heavy metal music played from earphones.
A fragment of sun light glistened on your sclera.
Everything else was just a noise.
quietly, tenuously, you scribbled.
Against a wall after a wall —- you carried on.
A flower blossomed in the crack of the wall.
The rain, coffee, book, movie, and violin. The heavy silence. I remember them. I remember what they stood for.
I will carry them on.
5.1.2026
Vignette
It was two, no, three storied yellow ltownhouse.
Squeaky wooden stairs led to a purple room.
I remember the red couch, the glass vinyl player
and a vase of flowers by the window.
On a coffee table sat an ash tray filled with cigarette butts.
A fishnet hammock between chestnut trees
also had a cigarette burn.
A cardboard-made octopus sat by the street
as the song by the Radiohead creaked from a stereo.
A hawk sat on top of a pole, tearing up a rabbit,
as neighbors gathered over a garage sale
where I found a Dostoyevsky book
and a letter between two lovers
slid in between the pages.
A hookah bar hid a couple blocks down the street,
not to far from the quiet church
whose stain-glass glowed by the moonlight.
The burning scent of oil paint fumes,
the sole piano on the hallway,
and burning heat through a white coffee cup
all mingling into one night.
The closed eyes,
soft whispers of breathing
and eternally peaceful fraction of a moment.
4.29.2026
Flashback
The scent of the rain
puts me right back to the moment.
One of the Christopher Nolan’s movies
aptly captured the nostalgia.
In between rows of library shelves
the chosen one was from the Norwegian woods.
I remember how mundane and profound it was.
simple sun, simple air, a plain comment:
“in repetitiveness, a new universe can be glimpsed by shifting the angle of my perspective”
It seared into my heart.
These slices of memories
exploded within the compressed moment,
a fraction of a second
the scent of the rain passed me by.
4.28.2026
Dusk
Twilight before the storm moves me.
Turbulent waves of tree leaves portends
an impending force growling and swirling.
Listen carefully, so you may feel it too:
the grand orchestra, the somber parade, the ferocious redemption.
As I stroll down the street into the storm,
I let edges of myself imbue in its hue
as a brief remedial sojourn for my soul.
4.27.2026
J
Did we love?
I’d say we did.
When you brought me into your home
and gave me a bowl of dumpling soup
and a bottle of vinegar,
I found myself submerged
in the kaleidoscope of your world
and only after I had reemerged
I knew it was love.
in your absence — as the knowledge you were gone had begun to settle —
I discovered a cruel determination
was the only reason I bring myself to the world in the morning.
Inflamed in self-hatred,
I grinded my way forward, or
stupefying my eyes to escape.
Now I realize
I had not yet to thank you.
Thank you for bearing with me.
For your bare honesty and trust in me
had allowed me to know
I could be accepted, trusted, and loved.
I felt alive, perhaps for the first time.
For that, I am grateful to you.
4.24.2026
Norwegian
you were always veiled in mystic quietness.
The kind that invokes curiosity and attracts
nostalgically beautiful destructiveness.
the way your dark brown hair fell across your face
as the curtain ebbed by lazy summer wind
listening to the music through your earphones of your iPod
imprinted into my memory as if
I had stared up to the sun with my bare eyes
before I could flinch away.
who would have known
this memory would last
until this very moment.
4.23.2026
Y
홀로 서있는 너를 보았다.
떠나는 나를 보고 슬퍼하는 너를 향해
앞으로 달려갔다.
우리가 마주한지 많은 해가 지내갔다.
마지막으로 너를 마주했던 나는 어렸다.
아무것도 모른채, 오직 너만을 바랬다.
그 후로 목숨을 걸 수 밖에 없는 순간들이 많았다.
뒤돌아설 수도, 도망칠 수도 없는 순간들을
정신 없이 싸우고 살아남고 나니 깨달았다.
나는, 너를, 정말로, 진심으로 좋아했고,
이 세상에, 그만큼, 중요한것은, 사실은, 없다는걸.
죽음이 내 앞에 앉아 기다리고 있다 한들,
나는 떳떳하게 말할 수 있다는걸 깨달았다.
그 모든 순간들의 역경을 버티고
나에게 주어진 짤막한 순간에
나는 너에게 마지막의 웃음을 지으며 이렇게 말한다.
"야, 내가 너를 많이 좋아하는거, 알지?"
내 눈이 너의 눈을 바라 보았고
나는 너의 입술에 입을 맞췄다.
그 순간, 나는 꿈에서 깨어났다.
4.22.2026










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