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[ipoddan]

I have too much free time....Enjoy.

It's the Friday before Chusak
by Daniel Lee Gray

It's Friday before Chusak
and all through the school,
little rugrats are screaming
thinking of all that special food.
Eggplant and bean sprouts,
dried fish and tofu,
pumpkin and mushrooms,
dried squid and some brown stuff
and green stuff and other stuff
I've never seen before.

There are rice cakes with red bean or
rice cakes with sweet seeds or
rice cakes filled with an even more
obscure goo.
There are apples swelled like
Anna Nicole's...eyes
and grapes like punched bruises
and a plethora of tempura that is left
for feasting ancestors.

When the meal is ready,
Their ancestors leave their hovels in Soul
and come to indulge in the indulgences offered.
Being dead these great grandfathers and
grandmothers smirk garlic and hot peppers.
Kim Chi is left out of the Chusak supper!

Everything is served in brass dishes with care
and each passed on gets special chopsticks
so they don't have to share.
Incense are burned and a spoon stuck in the rice.
Then, in hanboks, the father and sons bow thrice.
In aprons, mothers and daughters, they
take much needed time.
So they sit their arms weary and legs worn
while their husbands and sons honor the passed on.

Like ghetto terrific,
a cup of wine is poured for fallen homies.
Then father moves the chopsticks to
more delicious delicacies.
They wait for the dead to eat their spirit fill
then three times chime the chopsticks
to echo the air.
Again the father and son bow and they repeat the process.
And the womenfolk continue to enjoy their well earned recess.

And so that's Chusak.
A ceremony for the dead. If the food is tasty
the ancestors continue to bless.
But if dishonor is felt, a scourge is then sent.

Mothers are now angry
because now they serve and then clean
while fathers and children watch
the Rock, or Gladiator 2 or maybe the Mummy on TV
and the children cause chaos by
running around
because there is no school
No School
NO School!
On Chusak Day!