President Park Geun-hye of South Korea has been under investigation for corruption, which made her the first sitting president facing criminal inquiry in the 68-year history of the nation’s constitutional government. On March 10, 2017, prompted by overwhelming public outcry and peaceful protests, the Korean Supreme Court voted to impeach her.
I am so sorry to bother you at such a trying time
but I was hoping to get your advice as to
how I should care for my Hibiscus
I only ask because she was a gift
from a Bear to my Halmoni , passed
down to my mother and then me
& I hear you have great reverence
for traditions and offerings
For about 68 years, I’ve tended to her, with no upsets unmanageable:
She came to me tired but triumphant
after surviving years in a dark room
so I set her to rest by my most light prone window
watering her whenever the soil was dry to touch
For many years, she seemed to delight in this arrangement,
thrive, in fact, but lately she has been shying away
from the sun and refusing any water I offer her
I know you have dealt with more than your share
of hunger strikes so I wanted to ask whether I should
wait for her to wilt or force her to drink now
I have considered setting her gently in a paper boat
& easing it into the Han River
but I fear the slow sinking will only comfort her
and I shall end up drowning her as you did our country.
1
2
The Hibiscus Syriacus is the national flower of South Korea
1
[할머니], meaning Grandmother
2
E Yeon Chang is a junior at New York University from Seoul, Korea. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The James Franco Review, Hobart, LIT magazine, amongst others. A recipient of the 2016 Tory Dent Research Scholarship, E Yeon studies English Literature when she is not busy being a bear.