"eyelash run"

i am running
towards the very curvy tip
of today's eyelash
so i may bounce off it
and glide
into tomorrow

"as i let the morning sun in"

i wake up with a faint growl
deep deep deep
in the pit in my chest
not a beat
not a tremor
a slow squeeze
of murmurs
forced out with my gasps

'why
do i have
to wake up
and wake up
and lose you
and lose you
again
and again'

i let go of you
as i let the morning sun in

"honest laugh"

there's something honest
in the way we laugh

a string of melancholy
woven in between giggles

"after dinner"

i like
how
my breath
my hair
my t-shirt
still smell like
Korean food

it means
i ate well

"Haiku on a Cool Evening"

Inky evening
Cool breeze brushes by our hair
French whispers move me

"just to play"

can you understand
the musician
how he wraps his cello on his back
straps skis onto his feet
opens his door to a blizzard
braves the cold for days
pauses on a hill over a snow covered village

can you understand
how he comes all this way
just to play some music
and keep his fingers warm

"another reason why i write poetry"

secrets ache me up

the ones you tell me
quake my insides
my crumbling chest
as much as
the ones i don't tell you

i'll dig a hole
whisper
my words
into a quiet
Earth
hold my breath
close my eyes
and
brush dust
over the hollow ground

why won't i just
whisper
into your ear?

well...
i wouldn't know
where to begin

the only things
that can make me
explode
(whoa oh whoa!)
into a thousand itsy bitsy pieces
are
love
and
rockets

tomorrow's midterm
just happens to be
neither

it ain't no thang

when i'm sad
i tip toe into the kitchen
gently creak open the freezer
and i help myself
to a generous
scoop of ice cream

tonight
i help myself
to two scoops
of ice cream

a cold spoon
slowly warms up
between my lips
i take the cold in
it melts
inside me

i miss
the feeling
of melting

i almost
got hit by a car

me
absent minded
lost in my own
oh so happy
basking in a
chuckle smirk and giggle
a remembrance of a smile
from yesterday

and
silly me
i didn't look
bothways

right behind me
for quick instant
i could hear
an engine of sound and fury
trail off

the thing is
i didn't feel the
least bit rattled

i would have died laughing

rest isn't really
rest
when you're
restless

unless
you're able to find
rest
not in a pause
not in a silence
but in
a dance
a pull
a song
a meal
a stretch

rest
doesn't always lie
hip to hip
with those
waiting
pausing
holding their breath

i am
still
oh so still
tonight

not even
a hand clap
nor
a cool finger snap
will wake me

"let me rest
please
let me rest"
i repeat
in a moment
of bliss and
forgetfulness

my body aches
my eyes drop
my voice dries out

but
soon enough
i recall
the thing that makes me go

a smile
mine or yours
it doesn't really matter

i go
and go
and go and go
and go and go and go

for a smile

the curtains pull back
the audience spirit away

the laughters still
the sighs stiller

it's all over

am i
hero
or
divine fool
for finding comfort
in the tremble
of other people's hearts

haha

i don't care
who i'll be

we have a fucking good show

a little kid
called me
"bad man"

maybe he knows
how dreams
can make you crazy
or
maybe he knows
not to trust
a big hair man in a red kung fu suit

but either way
the kid knows something
more than i'll ever know

i like kids

"you're beautiful"

my whisper floats
to a shadow
a slight specter
vanishing
under the dim curve
of a curtain

can i chase something
that's already gone?

let's get lost
and twirl
and twirl
and twirl

my life
is on pause

as always

i drift
in slow motion
daydreams
in everyday walks

I feel the rain!
The fall of a thousand black holes
Each a beautiful empty wreck
That crashes against the stutter of my skin
Me
Who forgets to breathe
In the absence of your touch

How can I begin
when I haven't forgotten
your seeping footprints
left behind after the rain

please
don't watch the tide
as you hold your breath
and wish for the sun
on the other side

please
don't tremble
the damp air
doesn't deserve your stir
don't be
here
if all you seek
is comfort and companionship
in the faint echo of
an ocean

please
let me build you
a bridge of bones
out of my own
so you can take a step
across this sea

@#$#$&!!!

sometimes I can't express the way I feel with these poetic stanzas.

i'll talk to you later.

when i'm more agile with words.

and less of an asshole.

I am
no longer
the little bowl-haircut boy
who coughs dreams
with every single breath

my hairstyle
is different now

theatre rice
should be renamed
theatre hell in your pants

we're pyromaniacs baby
and your pants
look pretty damn combustible
right about now

shhhh!
we set a fire
in 160 Dwinelle
tonight
a small mock fire
it left us a little burnt
but it's for the best

for next week
the towering inferno bonfire
in 155 Dwinelle
come as you are
bring your friends
you firewood you

do you know what you do
when your pants are on fire?

you try to run run run
chase the burn burn burn
then you
stop
drop
and rock and roll

it's getting hot in here
Nelly has no idea
but neither do you
about the hell you're in for

you should just
come to our show
naked

save yourself the embarassment
of taking clothes off
in public

no wait
wear pants

we're not called
theatre hell in your pants
for nothing

today i'll forget
that's the first thing i said
when i woke up

today is a day that i'll forget

(like the one before
and the one before)

i'm raking routine
off the midautumn ground
and maybe
i'll scrape myself off it too

this must be the fall semester blues
this must be the fall semester blues

time moves too fast
not when you're having fun
but when you're not

i try to latch onto moments
to strum the guitar in the sun
to play five seconds of tags
to boil potstickers and pasta

but
as i sit here
as i try to remember my day
i know it's too late

we're already memories

if i could
i'll play the spanish guitar
cyclone down its slender neck
glide down its brown curves
tickle its gasps out

but that's not it

i'll become an Asian American guitar God
tour with Radiohead
play a ballet of ballads
all the while echoing
(underneath all my
abstract lyrics)
"don't you see
what you
youyouyou
make me do?"

Theatre Rice went well today. I think tonight was the first we pulled off a complete full run through. Things are going good. I have another poem or two in me tonight, but I'd rather not share the poetry that I find embarassing (because of what I say.) You know what. It's weird when people know more about me than I think they know about me. I guess word gets around and secrets are spilled sometimes. But that's cool. It's not like I'm the Man with No Name.