Nancy Cohen, Divisions, 2025 (Artist Website, Instagram)
Paper pulp and handmade paper, 51 x 54”
My birth father is a red crane dance. A woman hums.
Need for Protection : Abandoned child
My birth mother is a monk's dance, not a peach offering
for a king. More than a month after I was born, I had a mild
oral thrush and the next month—lifts head 60º
Adoptable In my port city, the early white radishes glow
in the autumn evening by a cup of cooling water.
The red-crowned crane lifts off an edge. A dance for peace
is for skilled dancers. A figure dances, the rhythmic wind bending—
and returning in the tinged, fluttering light on crushed petals and a kettle.
Note: This poem includes and alters language from the Encyclopedia of Korean Seasonal Customs: Encyclopedia of Korean Folklore and Traditional Culture Vol. 1 by the National Folk Museum of Korea (South Korea) and executive editing by Cheon, Jingi (Director of the Folk Research Division).