Exercise: Talking to Strangers
Listen to the audio file, then repeat after each speaker until you feel ready to move on to the next exercise.
Hello! It’s nice meeting you here. You mentioned
that it’s your first time living abroad—has it been
difficult for you?
by the time you hear this answer
I’ve heard myself say it fifteen or fifty times
I roll each word like a cold
marble on my tongue until it pulses heat
swallow the soft clack in the belly pit
a greeting annyeonghaseyo
That’s a relief! You said something about living in
Itaewon, right? It must be convenient, living so close
to the city center.
when I go to the store my body
is a gunny sack of clack clack clack
guseuldeul-i pushing up loud and unyielding
against one another against the pink fibers
lining my stomach ihaehaeyo?
when I say it’s a little sikkeureoweo in here?
Perhaps you could move to my area. It’s quiet here
and there are many facilities available for foreigners
to use.
sometimes I walk into the kitchen section
look at the knives seomseomhae think what if
my mouth would move the way I wanted what if
you cut open the goose and instead of sal
gwa giteol golden eggs poured forth gureureu
in all directions and the goose says
gomapda, chingu-ya because the eggs
they were so very heavy
