GLEAMING LIGHTS FAR OFF

the small sweet tangerine

you plucked casually near a hot spring

I taste with care

as light glitters from the far shore

the vast black sheet between

so like the days a patient bears

sweetpotato leaves and lilies

a brief nod to neighbors

near the vegetarian restaurant at 12

the Noonday Gun will fire

crowd or not

cashews and tofu skin in the dish

tastier with a dash of that vermilion sauce?

no wine for the passerby

may the vegetables unfold a hundred flavors

guest from faraway

we’ve met in so many cities

now you’re bound for Beijing, Cairo, then back to Seoul

I ask you to sit with me and see the lights

diners come and go

beyond the glass, glint and shadow

shift through a gutted building

at this moment

on the table

the peels of the tangerine

open into bloom