Yes or No —a poem by Suchoon Mo

Yes or No

yes or no
do I dare or do I not dare
because yes I say or no I say
it is to be or not to be

a very silly question
to ask or not to ask
yes to be or no not to be
and so on and so forth




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The Poet: Suchoon Mo is a retired academic living in the semiarid part of Colorado.

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The Photographer: Jefferson Fetters lives and works in downtown Seattle.

Here Nowhere | Suchoon Mo

I am only going home

there is no music

there is no moonlight

the soundless misty rain
I own this dark night

the earth used to be flat
her chest used to be flat
not any more

if a frog comes to my door
what should I say to him?

I don't remember her face any more
I don't remember her voice any more
I remember it was long ago

snow flakes are falling
like cherry blossoms in spring

dread of tomorrow is here
hope of yesterday is nowhere
here nowhere 
now

___

He is a retired academic living in the semiarid part of Colorado.

'BUDDHA SAID NOTHING' by Suchoon Mo

Buddha came
Buddha said nothing
Buddha said nothing nothing
Buddha said nothing nothing nothing
nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothing.
Buddha said nothing
Buddha left

I was there
I heard nothing
I heard nothing nothing
I heard nothing nothing nothing
nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing
nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing
nothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothingnothing
I heard nothing
I left
Buddha and I
we left
together


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Suchoon Mo is a former Korean Army Lieutenant and a retired academic living in the semiarid part of Colorado. His poems appeared in East and West, Bitter Oleander, Dissident Editions, Taj Mahal Review, Religious Humanism, Thunder Sandwich, Underground Window, Spillway Review, Subtle Tea, Stylus Poetry Journal, Malleable Jangle, Poetry Magazine, Word Riot, Word Myth, Tryst, Subterranean Quarterly, Orange Room Review, Round Table Review, Strange Road, Feathertale, Snakeskin, Flutter, The Quirk, Poetry Cemetery, Autumn Leaves, the Blue House, and others. His music compositions appeared in Sage of Consciousness, Unlikely 2.0, Mad Hatters Review, the Adroitly Placed Word. He has no formal music education

Issue #002 - Summer 2007

Discourse
The Commonline Journal Interview: Spoken Word Poet Anis Mojgni - Pikthall
The Commonline Journal Interview: Cult Writer Tony O'Neill - Jesper Sydhagen

Fiction
Taylor's Fourteenth Summer - Fiction by Lloyd Hudson Frye
The First Loss - Fiction by Erin Monroe
When Loneliness Must Not be Shared with Children - Fiction by V. Inglis
Esfand - Fiction by Vida Djaghouri

Poetry
Men of Good Fortune - Tony O'Neill
3 Poems - Suchoon Mo
Bible and Cracked Oil Pans & Mother Theresa's Dildos - Rob Plath

The American Way - DB Cox
Two Deaths - Luis Cuauhtemoc Berroizabal 

Way Out - Zoe Alexandra
I Figured I Was Gone for Good & Wife's Cousin - Justin Hyde
Be Careful of Hispanic Women in Bars & What's You Learn in College - Justin Hyde

3 Poems - Noah Kaplowitz
October 15th in a Greasy Spoon - Allison Shoemaker
Philosophy Can't Teach Everything & Happens - Eddie Kilowatt
Soy Mysterioso - Khadija Anderson
A Second Chance - Cindy Truong
I've got knives in my eyes, I'm going home sick - Richard Wink
Astral Plane: After Kafka's Metamorphosis & Graffiti Souls Under the Moon - Ruth E. Dominguez
Blame Game - Fiction by Preston Picus
Snails and Clouds - Misti Rainwater-Lites
Untitled - Russell Jacobs
I Fucked a Poet - Ben Mason
Dictionary - Dustin Orin Talley
Expelling Angels(s) - Zachary C. Bush
Criticism: 5 Pieces - Joseph Riippi
A Fitting Tragedy (still life with cigarette) - Julie Forbush
Intonation of a Scream - Isaac J. Coleman

3 NEW POEMS by Suchoon Mo

Buddha In A Theater

buddha came to town
went to a theater

the premiere of an opera
called "Life Is Suffering"

the tenor howled
the soprano screamed

the audience applauded
buddha farted


-----

Life And Death

life after death is silent
as in a cemetery

mourners came and went
dirge and elegy are gone

death does not hear
a prayer eloquent or mute

death does not see
even the dark underground

when death does speak
you do not hear

when death does smile
you do not see

a song of those who are no more
cannot be sung

the singer of another world
cannot be heard

life is not a drama
world is not a stage

the theater is empty
in a abandoned town

---

The Demilitarized Zone

in the valley of ten thousand mines
buried in the silence of years gone by
ten thousand flowers are about to bloom
remembering those who are no more




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Suchoon Mo is an emigre retired university academic living in the semiarid part of Colorado. His poems appeared in East and West, Bitter Oleander, Dissident Editions, Taj Mahal Review, Religious Humanism, Thunder Sandwich, Spillway Review, the Stylus Poetry Journal, Malleable Jangle, Word Riot, Word Myth, Underground Window, Tryst, Subterranean Quarterly, Orange Room Review, Round Table Review, Strange Road, Feathertale, Snake Skin, Flutter, Poetry Cemetery, and others. His music compositions appeared in Unlikely 2.0, Mad Hatters Review, Sage of Consciousness, Strange Road, The Adroitly Placed Word. He has no formal music education.