First published in Korean in The Earthian Tales



I picked up a key.

Under the streetlamp it was shining.
A loitering man in front of the door rummaging through his pockets.

A key to a lover’s house that I will never visit again.

A key to a rooftop house I was evicted from for being late with rent.

Trying to mess with my owner.
In my pocket I put a key that can’t be used in any lock

and brought it to the owner.
You’re like a window frozen shut.

If you place your palm on your cold forehead, it will stick.
The house I come back to after going on a trip.

Unfamiliar black footprints on the living room floor.

All the drawers have been flung open, books scattered on the floor,

and

the wardrobe door is darkly open.
Even though I had the name of my ex tatted on the auracle of my ear

the key that made my heart pound that I handed over

now rolls around in dust.
All the keys to the world have lost their locks.

The lock to my dreams slackened.
Even when I don’t have a bad dream, sometimes I wake at dawn.

Did an earthquake happen and I didn’t notice?

Did lightning strike?
A man who swallowed the key

after chaining his body up and fastening the lock.
Tonight thousands of keys shine in the moonlight down in the gutter. A key

ring clank clanks, filled with keys that need to be thrown out.