by Seo Kang

With my curiosity getting the better of me,
I peek into a large pottery container that my grandma dug out of the ground.
Seeing light for the first time in three months,
the red hairs of my dear, jar-bound friends seem to shine and glisten as I peer in at them.
In awe of their beauty, I open up the jar a little more,
only to be repelled by their collective stench.
As I back away from the kimchi urn,
my grandmother smiles and holds my hand.
Together, we open the jar and liberate those pickled cabbages.
With excitement, I watch as Hal-muh-nee frees the innocent prisoners,
soon executing them with a large kitchen knife.
This altruistic sacrifice of my friends makes me wonder…

After three months of suffering in their dark confinement,
my kimchi friends finally see their freedom.
But freedom is always fleeting.
They are destined to be sliced up and devoured.
These brave, fallen soldiers.

I am greedy! I am hungry to devour! I am guilty!
Yet my guilt is quickly overcome,
and my battle with conscience is done,
when one slice of that scrumptious offering,
lays itself up on a bowl of hot sticky rice.