Imaginary Cities | PC Bangs

hear the wet kittens mewling for their lost mother must we eat bamboo?

Wake up calm. It will be morning soon. Hours disappear, then shatter at the Sound of a phone call (wrong number). Your mobile bleats when it’s time to Change the battery, in that awfully Disconnected voice that’s had reverb Added to it, in the room where you Remain alone. Eat a mandarin. That’s Better. No use trying to go back to Sleep. You've deposited enough hours In that bank to fund your hibernation, This winter, when it comes. It will. Television wakes you again. When did You switch it on anyway? Consenting Adults. Leave the room. Be sure to Wrap yourself in warm clothes, for It is cold this morning. The Minimart’s Always open. Buy cans of cold coffee. Sit outside and watch the businessmen Leaving their apartments, mp3 players Already fitted, a soundtrack you can’t Hear jettisons them towards offices That are already lit. Return to your Room and watch television again. It’s Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt. Leave the Mandarins where they are. Shower. Catch the subway. The morning m...

[This is the full text of an article due to appear in the National Tertiary Education Union's publication Advocate early next year] In August this year I travelled to the Republic of Korea this year as an Asialink resident to teach at Sogang University in Seoul. While I have some teaching experience in Australia and oodles of time notched up as a performance poet, this was to be my first stint as a lecturer in any country. It would also be my first experience of a long-term stay overseas. I could not have asked for a more diverse and energetic city to teach in. The population of Seoul’s greater metropolitan area is approximately the same as the whole of Australia and it is rightly known as one of the most dynamic cities in the world. Indeed, “dynamic” is a word that you hear often in Korea. Since the devastation of the Korean War (in which most of the Korean peninsula was rendered uninhabitable), Seoul has transformed itself into a world city. Its subway system makes Barry Jones’ ...

Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll get drunk & spit at stars Roll cars out into roads & fight Trespass on the night’s property Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll fall in love & then forget Throw bottles at the alley cats Invade Poland, or whistle tunes Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll wind our frozen watches Shout obscenities at a shadow Boil milk from subway sparks Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll step on broken glasses Make pain from frozen garbage Shatter poems with two sighs Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll murder all our tomorrows Draw moustaches on our heroes Drown punches in tears of milk Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll create a visible canvas Spraying slogans on ourselves Running away from the fires Underneath the makkolli moon We’ll pretend we never existed Smile at liquid breaths of dawn Edit our own white footprints

Fifty days in the land of the morning calm. Forty nine nights in a city that breathes like a dragon. Forty eight days drinking cold coffee from cans. Forty seven nights without an Australian radio station. Forty six days stepping over puddles of spittle in the street. Forty five nights with a mosquito and a ceiling fan buzzing in my ears. Forty four days crossing roads and counting seconds till the lights change. Forty three nights eating dinner alone in a city where everyone else eats in large and noisy groups. Forty two days staring up at a sky of a different blue. Forty one nights staring at holes in the bottom of empty soju glasses. Forty days in which the season is on the verge of turning. Thirty nine nights where old men sit in the park on newspapers. Thirty eight days as humid as bowls of bubbling soup. Thirty seven nights watching Koreans dreaming on the subway. Thirty six days thinking about my faraway family. Thirty five nights like revenue stamps from the immigration departm...

There are statues all over Korea dedicated to Admiral Yi, who was famous for attacking and defeating the invading navy of Japan in the late 1500s using a flotilla of iron-clad "turtle boats". This one is my favourite and can be found in the park at the base of the Pusan Tower. What a guy. Of course, this dragon did not really belong to Admiral Yi who, as far as I can tell, possessed no pets. But it's nice to dream sometimes. I love dragons.

Ronnie Mac gets overwhelmed by pushy Pusan teenagers eager to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars at the Pusan International Film Festival. The girl everyone went berserk for - can't remember her name but she is huge. One boy asked me to take a picture of her - "just her" - because I was taller than everyone else there. Andrew and Jueun try hard to look natural on a bus on the way to an outdoor movie. Their kindness in putting me up at their house will never be forgotten. The huge outdoor screen on which trippy graphics were played while a string/rock fusion group played a medley of cinema music. The film, "The Two Brothers", was eminently forgettable. But the occasion wasn't. A car covered with the distinctive calling cards of Korean call girls forms the centrepiece of a demonstration to mark the first anniversary of the Sex Trade Prevention Act organised by Sallim, a supporting NGO for women victims of sex trafficking. The area where the Film Festival...