All Sides Are Open

All sides are open.
And yet all sides are closed.

Like unwinding from sleep paralysis, squirming this way and that
I push my body out,
and there in the middle of the road I'm completely defenseless.
Pressing myself with belated regret, I suddenly think of the time I spent squirming just to escape the paralysis, and take my own small comfort.

I stop the pedals I'd been pushing without direction, sit on a bench, and look around.
Jungnangcheon — all sides are open.
And yet I have nowhere to go, nowhere I can go.

Festival of the meaningless.

I can't hold out any longer.
Even the tiny gnats in my eyes are too much,
and swarms of gnats the size of bike wheels
have come right up to my face.

Ha..