From An Ordinary Misfortune


Mine is the jam-packed train. The too-weak cocktail. This statement by an American man at the bar: Your life in Korea would have been a whole lot different without the US. Meaning: be thankful. This question by a Canadian girl, a friend: Why don’t you guys just get along? The guys: Japan and Korea. Meaning: move on. How do I answer that? Move on, move on, girls on the train. Destination: comfort stations. Things a soldier can do: mount you before another soldier is done. Say, Drink this soup made of human blood. Say, The Korean race should be erased from this earth. Tops down. Bottoms up. Things erased: your name, your child, your history. Your new name: Fumiko, Hanako, Yoshiko. Name of the condom: Charge Number One. Name of the needle: Compound 606. Salvarsan means, an arsenic to save. Ratio 291: 29 soldiers per girl. Actual count: lost. Lost: all. Shot, shot, shot, everybody. Give thanks.
 


Okamoto condoms are number one in Korea. The 001 series. The 002, 003. The thinnest. The pinnacle of condom technology. The pinnacle of penile pleasure. A wonder. No wonder. Who wouldn’t want that. Figures & history on Okamoto’s website: SKINLESS SKIN: a popular condom since postwar (which war?). No mention of Totsugeki Ichiban: Charge Number One, Assault Number One, Attack Number One, Attack Champion, Attack and Blast, choose your own definition. Who wore it? Who wore it best? In comfort stations, there weren’t enough Number Ones. Attack and Blast, rinse, attack and blast, repeat. The girls’ skinless skin. Blasted, postwar (which war?): gyokusai: shattered jade: better a broken jewel than an unbroken tile: honorable death: erase any evidence: the girls’ skinless skin. Blast more holes into their bodies. 000.



Story Arc

“some say he lit women / ablaze as a source of light”


Love Jones

“They’re about to miss each other / again.”