Best Korea Poems

The Sounds of Korea


I hear the familiar sounds of Korea,
Of the crowing of roosters in the morning,
Of the fields, streams and marketplaces.
The tunes of shamanistic music band
The swirling of fire-lit cans of Jwibul nori,
The soup boiling sounds in a huge pot,
A crisp “tak, tak” sound...

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He said, “Yes, I flew a fighter plane over the hills, and the people 
were running, they were just people, they were villagers, not soldiers, 
they were running away,”

and a tear came to his eye,  and it looked like a napalm-rain ,
as he dabbed...

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Look there! A newly wed bride steps out
Dismounting from the wedding coach.
The tradition expects the bride to step
On the lid of the traditional huge pot
Before entering into her home-to-be.
The pot being hanged on the threshold.

Look again! Smoke rising off the chimney,
The woman puts the soybean...

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Cabbage Patch Kids Of North Korea

Most N. Koreans go to camp, Camp 22
365 days a year they stay
Eat 1 head of cabbage every day forever
They don’t need sun or play they say
Work occupies them
Children turn in their parents for some bread
Watch them tortured 
When they...

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North Korea Now and Not Black Power

Is a prosaic 
Of something quite archaic
Country far behind.

This is what I thought of after
watching news about North
Korea exploding another bomb.
Inferior countries are looking for
attention getters to overcome 
and compensate for an inferior
complex. Of course, they thing
an occasional show...

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I hear the familiar sounds of Korea,
Of the crowing of roosters in the morning,
Of the fields, streams and marketplaces.
The tunes of shamanistic music band
The swirling of fire-lit cans of Jwibul nori,
The soup boiling sounds in a huge pot,
A crisp “tak, tak” sound of soybean burning
And...

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Germany crashes
SK's clean sheet not enough. . .
both teams headed home






Copyright © 2018 by Mark Toney. All rights reserved.
Published 2018 in "2018 World Cup Senryu" via wattpad.com...

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Trump A Houdini

Trump had actually been a Houdini, 
And we thought that he was a meanie; 
After he did have a case of diarrhea, 
He then ended up in North Korea. 

Trump compared to Kim is much older, 
And Kim's head equals Trump's shoulder; 
One...

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perfect start for France
Le Sommer, Renard, Henry-
South Korea crushed...

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(November 2016)

Twas Hillig, but the Limey Gove
Did whine and witter in the Brext.
All Szyddly was the Orban cove
And Grabberwock out-Mexed.

“Beware the Grabberwock, my dear,
The salesman’s talk, the dubious thatch.
Beware his leakiwick, and fear
His groomious undersnatch.”

She took her righteous sword in hand.
Her people cried “Deplore, deplore!”
So...

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The Lay of Sir Donald

(Or: Le Chanson de Donald)

An orange man – of red and trailing tie,
Small hands, and copious twitter-feed – sing I!
Most staunch ’gainst Saracen and Mede is he,
Bare-armed and ruddy-necked his followers be.
Brightly he barteth, and knows how, full well,
In sev’n-score characters...

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My favorite time of day
Is sunset 
As the sun begins to set,

I pour a glass of wine for my wife 
Or sometimes rum or whiskey
And sit down to dinner.

Drinking our drink
While watching the sunset, 
Over the western sea.

Sometimes, we take a walk 
At sunset and...

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why this strong man Kim Jong cried? 
who can resist pains? 

as President Kim Jong
saw his population decreasing,
he was crying in front 
of the group of 
some women. 

pleasing them
to give birth to more kids 
to avoid some challenges
in the future. 

many women of North
Korea...

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[More paraphrase than translation of a Post WWII Korean jazz ballad by the Kim Sisters, sung mournfully as if for an Asian gangster film noir.]

===

Exhaling blue smoke wherein
Faded memories brighten
I murmur the lyrics with the house band
In a calming below-street jazz club.

There's no way to...

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Snow, mountains, white horse
Flop side to side, bounce and flop
Majestic bumbling king...

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