honey in the wound – jiyoung han
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Myoung-Ok came to know what she would name her children only after feeling their weight press into her arms: geum, or gold, in hopes they might prosper in a way she never had herself. The sudden provenance of this wish surprised her, as she had always been more concerned with the gold of a fallen gingko nut than with the gold of a coin.
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she repeated what she said to him the day he nearly killed her: “I feel your footsteps in my chest.”
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Myoung-Ok cultivated her children’s love for the earth so that the earth would love them in return.
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When she asked Myoung-Ok about the village, her mother clucked and told her that life was better in the mountains. “People bring the burden of expectation,” she said. “Being trapped in that expectation is suffocating, even for the richest yangban in the village.”
Impresie. Albastru inefabil... 