Earth, Tree Woman
                                          
                                              
A Shadow
             on a rice paper
                    A trace of spirit and soul.

 I am a woman
                     I make marks of woman
                         Have heard and felt the life of woman.
                               Shaking body, drunk by her daily chores
                                     a long shadow swings and vibrates   
 ‘Hey, look at me’

                          Sometimes on a thin piece of paper
                              Sometimes with thread and a piece of fabric
                                   Sometimes thread pool and embroidery hoop
                                         Sometimes dishtowels and aprons
                                               Tattooed marks on body of women.

                          All their life works
                                As if it is their fate
                                      Responsibility and Joy together now
                                            Blooms into work of art.

                           Studied in the world of men
                                  Learned with men’s esthetics
                                         Then recon as I was a woman
                                               Atlas became a female seed
                                                       to be neutered and grow.

                           For sometimes in this world
                                    Women’s voice has leaked out
                                             Spread out and echoed rippled.

Women took off their tied shoes
                                             Walked around
                                                   Jumped and run and fly
                                                          Hustling bursting to bloom.

Stands high towards the sky
                           Her walk lifted higher
                                 All her inner guts poured out
                                       Turning around and calling out
                                               Our Grandmothers
                                                          Our Mothers                               
                                                                Here we meet again

                                                                           Ke-Sook Lee
                                                                           4.1.2018