Excerpts from
W H E N _ T H E _ P L U G _
G E T S _ U N P L U G G E D
Poems by Kim Hyesoon
Translation by Don Mee Choi • 2005 • $8
Design by Michael Cueva

from "Conservatism of the Rats of Seoul"

By morning all is quiet--he must have left
Mommy finally gets up and breathes
Mommy bits and kills each one of us
for giving off a suspicious scent from last night's terror
She kills us then eats our intestines,
grinds her teeth against a wall
then digs out our eyeballs to eat
then there is no one
As always, only Daddy and Mommy are left
it looks as if Mommy is expecting another litter.

Kim Hye-sun (b. 1955) currently teaches creative writing at Seoul College of Arts. The poems in the chapbook were selected from Kim’s two books: Pulssanghan sarang kikye (Poor Love Machine, 1997), and Talryk kongjang kongjangjangnim poseyo (Calendar Factory, Factory Supervisor, Please Look, 2000).  Her poetry resists the enormous pressure to conform to the male-dominated lyrical poetry.

Don Mee Choi was born in South Korea.  She now lives in Seattle and translates the poetry of contemporary Korean women poets.  Her translations of Kim Hye-sun have appeared in journals such as Arts & Letters, Circumference, Prairie Schooner, and positions: east asia cultures critique.