Quicksilver by Hyejung Kook

Quicksilver


dear Mercury 
god of travelers 
thief and cheat 

born hungry like us 
often assuming 
human guise 

might your face 
be among those fleeing 
persecution famine war 

even if he or she is 
mortal the divine 
still quickens within 

so hear me 
most human of the gods 
guide of souls 

liar and trickster 
grant us your cunning 
your silver tongue
 
your swiftness
grant us safe passage 
in life as well as death

Hyejung Kook’s poems have appeared in POETRY Magazine, Denver Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Pleiades, and elsewhere. Other works include an essay in Critical Flame and a chamber opera libretto. Born in Seoul, Korea, she now lives in Kansas with her husband and their two children.“Quicksilver” was written for Kundiman’s Migration Postcard Poem Project and also appears on Kook’s personal website.

Guest Editor, José Faus is a founder of the Latino Writers Collective. His writing appears in numerous anthologies. His chapbook This Town Like That was released by Spartan Press. His second book of poetry The Life and Times of Jose Calderon was published by West 39 Press.