Homage to Carl Sandburg: My City

Gaming addicts, gamblers, alcoholics
Lost souls who wander around in a world of denials.
Druggies, prostitutes, workaholics
Helpless individuals caught in a web of pressure and trials.

The city is vile and sordid
Filled to the brim with predilection.
Completely wicked and morbid
it smothers its children with fear and disruption.

Nonetheless, face yourself and look in the mirror
What you see are both imperfections and perfection
Likewise my city has faults and error
But is not composed only of despicable corruption.

Gaming addicts, gamblers, alcoholics,
Are not the only citizens who make up the city.
Strong and motivated people are too symbolic
To lead a growing and developing nation undeserving pity. 

Homage to Carl Sandburg: Dear Colleague

My Dear Fellow Colleague,

For the last time, stop deprecating my country. I realize that your blunt remarks on South Korea have grains of truth in them, but I reached the limit on my tolerance for your nagging and haranguing. Jingoism and bigotry is not part of my love for Korea. I do not necessarily have an emotional connection to my motherland, and so I look at the country without wanting to filter what I see and hear. And from what I see and hear, what you claim about Korea is only one side of the story.

I have heard too many appalling stories about the dark and dangerous alleys of Seoul for my own good. The metropolitan is a bright, constantly active, warm city that welcomes both natives and foreigners with open arms, but it is also an ugly city with inescapable fingers that constantly beckons to the weak and the susceptible and ultimately proves to be their downfall. Korea has tons of issues and I know that many of its citizens suffer from living within its borders. The abduction of young women and children are common during the sinister nights, the pop culture consumes teens to a degree of obsession, the mass media sets absurd standards, and the obsession with English and foreign influence shapes and changes traditional values.  An alarming number of teenagers go under the knife to meet the expectation of beauty and social requirements for acceptance, escape reality to the fantasy world of games, or lose the battle of depression by choosing suicide.

But at the same time, I cannot utter the name of my motherland, I cannot think of my country with scorn and distaste alone. After all, is there a single country in this world that can claim to be faultless? Every community and society today is tainted with issues and mistakes, and Korea is certainly far from being a pristine and perfect nation. But I am proud of Korea; I am proud of its growth, its flexibility, and its strength. Amid the ruins of disunity and suppression rose the nation, refusing to be content with a status of an underdeveloped country of mediocre power. Depression, sorrow and anger defines a big chunk of our culture, but far greater than this melancholy is the firm and unyielding defiance of joy and gratitude that supports the country.  We have come far, and we have done much. We have destroyed, but we have rebuilt as well.

So please, enough with your snide remarks. It’s not like Japan’s completely perfect either.

                                                                                      From,   
                                                                                          Your Slightly Piqued Roommate

Homage to Carl Sandburg: Seoul

Technological Leader for the World,
Manufacturer, Front-runner of Business
Performer of the Arts and the Nation’s Entertainer;
Adaptive, conservative, strong,
Supporter of the Small Country

They tell me you are brutal, and I believe them, for I have seen the unmerciful claws of modernity enticing the awed and vulnerable children to a twisted and unkind path.

They tell me you are distasteful, and I believe them, for I have seen the dark shadows of the hungry subtly sweep away young women and children forever.   

They tell me you are cruel, and I believe them, for I have seen the wealthy being flooded with superfluous wealth and happiness and the poor being swamped with depravity and woe. 

Having acknowledged so I face those who deride my city, and I point a mutually accusing finger back to them and say to them:

Come and show me another city with its glory and pride, thankful for its strength, its aptitude, its gifts.

Facing forward and focusing on the future, here lies the small but powerful capital so different from its surrounding modest towns and communities.

Dedicated as a loving mother nurturing of her children, fierce as a protective father guarding his family,

            Growing,
Changing,
Enduring,

Laughing despite the ups and downs,
Laughing through both success and failure,
Laughing with gratitude, laughing with contentment,

Laughing the whole-hearted laughter of Pride, Seoul stands tall and proud, proud to be Technological Leader, Manufacturer, Front-runner of Business, Performer of the Arts and the Nation’s Entertainer.

Chicago by Carl Sandburg

CHICAGO 

HOG Butcher for the World,
     Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
     Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
     Stormy, husky, brawling,
     City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
     have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
     luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
     is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
     kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
     faces of women and children I have seen the marks
     of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
     sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
     and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
     so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
     job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
     little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
     as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
          Bareheaded,
          Shoveling,
          Wrecking,
          Planning,
          Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
     white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
     man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
     never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
     and under his ribs the heart of the people,
               Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
     Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
     Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
     Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.