A Sublime Kitchen
by Kim Hyesoon
translated by Don Mee Choi

                They came to eat the moon again
                        The women ate the moon and their bellies grew each month
                        They squeezed breast-milk into the moon,
                        added the refreshing scent of mint to the roasted moon

I caught a glimpse of her kitchen once
The secretive chirp of the cooks dressed in white
The swirling storm severing the necks of wild ducks
on hundreds of wooden chopping boards
It was a sublime kitchen

A guest with a child entered
Mommy, mommy, can I have a glass of tangy star!
She brought out a drink made of powdered rain cloud
and floated an icy star in it

I caught a glimpse of her kitchen once
The rain cloud of flour mushroomed
and all kinds of dead animals’ blood flowed down the drain
the cries of countless spoons, chopsticks, fingers, toes
got sucked into the dishpan
It was a sublime kitchen

It’s time to prepare a midnight meal
She broke the moon over the frying pan
a hole as deep as a fingernail appeared on the moon
then a flock of birds crawled out from the hole
with their wings that can be fried—
the flock of birds spread their black wings
across the sky as the night deepened
She roasted the wings all night

Slobbered, chewed, licked, burped, chewed and chewed, sucked, tasted, drank, got fed  nonstop, swallowed and shouted Cheers! Eat more! Hey, Over here! One more bottle! Smacked lips, belched, gagged.
  
Like the lips that never once closed                  
the buildings on both sides of the street at night—
the sound of them being fed the night sky through their huge openings
Everything was sublime

Also by Kim Hyesoon (translated by Don Mee Choi) in ActionYes #3:
I Scribble Away at a Letter