If the soul and the ego were objects we could look at, the soul would be a translucent heart beating.
George Condo
“What brings you here,” he asked. | They saw tracks of animals—goats, the |
Author’s passport, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, April 16, 1975.
The father put aside his shining crown | Consumed by the idea of this small child |
How often she would be too terrified to | Columbus assumed that the object |
To keep her from successfully appeal- | A pile of bare human bones testified to |
The first half of the title of the poem and the text on the right-hand side are from Laurence Bergreen, Columbus: The Four Voyages 1492–1504. The second half of the title of the poem is from page seven of my passport.
1.The text on the left-hand side of the poem is drawn from Book II, Of Mortal Children and Immortal Lusts, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Charles Martin.
신선영 Sun Yung Shin is the author of three books of poetry from Coffee House Press: Unbearable Splendor; Rough, and Savage; and Skirt Full of Black. She is the editor of A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, coeditor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, and the author of the children’s book 쿠퍼의 롐슨 Cooper’s Lesson. She is a contributing editor at Aster(ix) and Society Editions.
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Featuring interviews with Lynda Benglis, Roe Ethridge, Becca Blackwell, Antonio Campos, Robert Greene, Angie Keefer, Liz Magic Laser, Laura Kurgan, China Miéville, Michael Palmer, and Rosmarie Waldrop.
If the soul and the ego were objects we could look at, the soul would be a translucent heart beating.
George Condo