Saffron City Press

When I think of you, rain comes                                        When I call you, you come in rain                                                        When I touch you, you disappear 

in rain

Bring me raw garlic and a handful 
of bitter green wormwood 
I will eat them and stay in a cave 
21 days, 100 days
that’s how bear became woman
I will do the same 
         If I can see you one last time

There is another myth— 
When you fold one thousand paper cranes
your dream comes true
If I can see you one last time
I will fold thousands—
         ten thousand paper cranes
 
I want to open your apartment door again
with the key that you sent by mail
the key still warm from your hand
hang my clothes in your closet between your clothes—
         I want to feel safe there again
 
Waiting for you is nothing—
Without blinking, I watch
the night become silver rain in blue light
 
I will wait for you like a rock on the water line
wishing you to be a wave and reach me—
If you touch
I will collapse and be water like you

لما أفكر فيك يسقط المطر
لما اناديك تأتي مع المطر
لما المسك تختفي تحت المطر
هاتني بالثوم الخام ودراعا من 
الشيح الاخضر المر
وسأناولهم وامكث في مغارة 
21 الى 100 يوم
هكذا تتحول انثى الذب لامرأة
سأفعل نفس الشيء
إذا كنت أستطيع رؤيتك أخر مرة

هناك اسطورة أخرى
لما تطوي ألف رافعة ورقية
يتحقق حلمك
وانا اذا استطعت ان اراك ثانية
سأصنع آلاف رافعة ورقية
عشرة آلاف...

اريد فتح باب شقتك من جديد
بالمفتاح الذي أرسلت لي عبر البريد
 مفتاح لايزال دافئا بدفء يدك
وأعلق ملابسي في خزانتك بين ملابسك،
اريد ان أكون مرة اخرى في امان هناك
لا يهم انتظاري لك 

بلا رمش أرى الليل يتحول
 الى شتاء فضية في ضوء ازرق 
سأنتظرك مثل صخرة على خط المياه
على امل ان تكون موجة و تصل اليا ،
ان لمست،
سأنهار وأكون ماء مثلك.

Tanya (Hyonhye) Ko Hong (고현혜) is an internationally published poet, translator, and cultural-curator who champions bilingual poetry and poets. Weaving together two cultures, Tanya’s poetry gives voice to multiple generations of Korean and Korean-American women. She is the author of five books, including The War Still Within (KYSO Flash Press, 2019), a well-researched and vividly imagined sequence of poems based on the experiences of the Korean “comfort women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Her poetry appears in Rattle, Beloit Poetry Journal, WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly (The Feminist Press), the Choson Ilbo, and The Korea Times, among others. She holds an MFA degree from Antioch University, Los Angeles.

In 2024, Tanya was honored by the Saharawi Women’s Forum in Laayoune, Morocco. Tanya’s work has won the Medada Award per l’espressione poetica al Ditët e Naimit International Poetry Festival, Tetovo, the Dritëro Agolli award, at the International Korçare Poetry Festival, Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award, Ko Won’s 10th Literary Award was a finalist in Frontier’s Chapbook Contest, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have been translated into Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Japanese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. In 2015 and 2018, she became the first person to translate and publish Arthur Sze’s poems in Korean. In 2015, her segmented poem, “Comfort Woman,” received an honorable mention from the Women’s National Book Association.

Izza Fartmis is a poet, interpreter, translator and writer who is a native of Casablanca living in Safi. She studied English Literature at Mohammed V University in Rabat. Mrs. Fartmis is a retired English teacher and pedagogical trainer. Izza won the International School Award (ISA) from Hassan II Qualifying School in Safi in 2013. She was the initiator and contributor of a local anthology about Covid-19 including poets and painters of Safi, entitled: ريشة و قلم She is translator of English magazines for Laayoune’s first and second international meeting activities organized by the “forum of the Sahrawi Woman, Development and Democracy”. Izza Fartmis writes in Arabic, French and, mainly, English and has published several books including Fluttering Soul, an English poetry collection, and Together, a collection of essays and short stories on personal experiences for young readers, 2024.