fishing in the rain 비

inspired again by the May poetry prompt calendar

protection from water 물

• ☂ 보호

nourishment from water 물

• 🐟 [literally water meat) 물고기

rendered in water(color) 물

• thin brisk |s

• quick rounded curves

• whispery, fluid brush strokes

humid gray ☁️ 구름 or slate 🗻 산

whispered green 🌳 나무

the couple

• man and wife 부부

• brother and sister (specifically older brother and younger sister) 오빠와 여동생

• mother and son 모자

red [traditional skirt] 치마 / blue [traditional top] 저고리

metal bucket 버킷

umbrella in buttery* [opaque] black

tears 💦 [literally eye water] 눈물

NOTE: I picked up this watercolor on a touristy street in 인사동 Insadong on my first return trip to Seoul as an adult. I didn’t realize until I examined it for this ekphrasis that the subjects may be adults. I always assumed they were children.

As someone for whom my specific past is inaccessible, I search for ancestry in artifacts. The couple in the painting connected by marriage or blood, feels simultaneously probable and improbable. The improbable highlighting what has been lost. And the probable hope—much like the couple perpetually captured awaiting a catch.

I possess a penchant for gloom that felt sympathetic to heaving sobs that would overtake me at times when I was growing up. The umbrella, rendered in substantial pigment, offers a covering. The kind I’ve attempted to hold over those early tears. I’ve always been charmed by the Korean word for tears, 눈물.

The poem is written with “baby Korean” in an attempt to access original language lost over time and space.

*Butter refers to the thickest watercolor with the least amount of dilution. Butter is also a Korean perception of the “American smell.” 버터 발음: (Butter pronunciation) A Korean whose English is smooth and fluent.

In an ill-fitting frame

exposed to the elements

because the glass shattered.