→ Image of my grandparents with my aunt as a baby in Korea, 1910. From an archival collection of photos that will be part of PLACES I’VE NEVER BEEN, an exhibition by Philip Hartigan and me, to be mounted at 1078 Gallery, Chico, California. Perhaps you will consider pledging your support: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/761144569/places-ive-never-been . Thank you. ←
Funny man in funny hat and he come on roaring rickshaw and he bring woman and child with him. His skin pale like milk from the cow and his eyes blue like pieces of sky and hair yellow as straw. His wife is same. She wears stiff cloth shade to keep sun from her face and her dress made with too much cloth so it billows and balloons in smallest breath of wind. And baby might be boy or girl, with face like moon and eyes like stars when they blink.
They come on second day of week and you hear them long way off, growling of his machine and baby crying. And sometimes hear singing, man in funny hat and woman with her face in her own shade. Strange words they sing, threaded into stranger music. We stand near church and wait. Jae-Hwa wears his white shirt and Soo Yun has cut Jae-Hwa’s hair so he does not look like himself; and Kyung wears hat that was gift from government man who wanted to sleep with Kyung for one night.
The man in funny hat switches off his machine and the quiet makes sudden slap to our ears. He is all smiles and his woman the same. They get off machine and he lays it down to sleep.
‘Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.’
He makes blessing over Jae-Hwa and over Kyung, and all other boys who have come. Over me, too, he says prayers. I do not know all his words, but some I collect and I know he speaking of Jesus and God the Father, and I say ‘Amen’ and he nods to tell I do right.
He comes not from here. He from far away. He from the delightful states of merica. It like heaven he from. He shows pictures and though people are pale as ghosts they look fat as pigs before slaughter and so I think they eat well in his delightful states. He has big key to open door of church.
The woman only takes off stiff cloth shade when she is inside church. Then, she looks like angels in big book. It is cool inside and dark and I think we should knock first in case God sleeping, but we never do knock. The woman has hair colour of honey when pulled from comb and she smells of sugar and flowers but no flies or bees are on her.
They open windows so we can see words in our prayer books. I do not know their words, but I hold book in way that looks right. And we sing in rising and falling sound and we make prayers the same. It is longest time, and my thoughts are with Eun and with how pretty she is. I think, too, of small hard lumps of sugar the man will give us for our prayers. I think Eun, she will be happy to make exchange of sugar for a kiss.
‘If I shall die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.’
We shake man’s hand when quiet creeps back into church and all our voices still; and the woman’s hand, too, we shake. They shut windows again and lock door. Then man, back in his funny hat, kicks machine and it roars again, and soon they are gone in cloud of yellow dust. And we each of us have two lumps of sugar this end of church time, so I think this second day of week I may ask Eun for more than one kiss.
Patricia Ann McNair 
Funny man in funny hat and he come on roaring rickshaw and he bring woman and child with him. His skin pale like milk from the cow and his eyes blue like pieces of sky and hair yellow as straw. His wife is same. She wears stiff cloth shade to keep sun from her face and her dress made with too much cloth so it billows and balloons in smallest breath of wind. And baby might be boy or girl, with face like moon and eyes like stars when they blink.
They come on second day of week and you hear them long way off, growling of his machine and baby crying. And sometimes hear singing, man in funny hat and woman with her face in her own shade. Strange words they sing, threaded into stranger music. We stand near church and wait. Jae-Hwa wears his white shirt and Soo Yun has cut Jae-Hwa’s hair so he does not look like himself; and Kyung wears hat that was gift from government man who wanted to sleep with Kyung for one night.
The man in funny hat switches off his machine and the quiet makes sudden slap to our ears. He is all smiles and his woman the same. They get off machine and he lays it down to sleep.
‘Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.’
He makes blessing over Jae-Hwa and over Kyung, and all other boys who have come. Over me, too, he says prayers. I do not know all his words, but some I collect and I know he speaking of Jesus and God the Father, and I say ‘Amen’ and he nods to tell I do right.
He comes not from here. He from far away. He from the delightful states of merica. It like heaven he from. He shows pictures and though people are pale as ghosts they look fat as pigs before slaughter and so I think they eat well in his delightful states. He has big key to open door of church.
The woman only takes off stiff cloth shade when she is inside church. Then, she looks like angels in big book. It is cool inside and dark and I think we should knock first in case God sleeping, but we never do knock. The woman has hair colour of honey when pulled from comb and she smells of sugar and flowers but no flies or bees are on her.
They open windows so we can see words in our prayer books. I do not know their words, but I hold book in way that looks right. And we sing in rising and falling sound and we make prayers the same. It is longest time, and my thoughts are with Eun and with how pretty she is. I think, too, of small hard lumps of sugar the man will give us for our prayers. I think Eun, she will be happy to make exchange of sugar for a kiss.
‘If I shall die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.’
We shake man’s hand when quiet creeps back into church and all our voices still; and the woman’s hand, too, we shake. They shut windows again and lock door. Then man, back in his funny hat, kicks machine and it roars again, and soon they are gone in cloud of yellow dust. And we each of us have two lumps of sugar this end of church time, so I think this second day of week I may ask Eun for more than one kiss.