– Hyejung Kook –
Photo courtesy of Nancy Kook
If I held. If I held still.
Last night I dreamt I was pregnant again. Or rather,
If I held still enough to feel the blood
I dreamt I was not pregnant again. No, to be exact,
moving through me.
I thought I was pregnant, but then I didn’t,
If I held still enough
and wasn’t. My belly was swollen, and something
to feel hope batter
moved inside, but then I realized I could not be pregnant.
against my ribs,
In the dream, that is, I could not be pregnant,
like the pheasants in the story flew
not that I could not become pregnant in real life.
to save the woodcutter’s life, the one
Except in the dream I could have been pregnant,
who had saved their hatchlings
because it was a dream, but I remembered
inside the dream that I was not pregnant in real life.
from the snake, the snake whose vengeful wife
would kill the woodcutter unless
Last night I dreamt I was pregnant again. I mean
the temple bell rang twice,
it was the second time I’d dreamt I was pregnant in a week.
and so they flew headfirst
This is different from how I have been pregnant
into the bell. But then what?
twice in the past year, but then wasn’t.