Shin A-lam

                 

You were robbed by a technocrat.

“The Korean Team cannot accept this situation.”

But they can accept it far more than you can, for

in the end didn’t they strictly respect Olympic procedure

with their official complaints and their appeals?

You abandoned all decorum

and all precedent

as you sat there

for 40 minutes.

Sitting, crying

and refusing to move

is the primordial protest.

Children do it, lovers do it.

Those responsible are lost. They

stand there, holding a tea-towel

trying to talk the protest round

but finding only more protest.

You see, frustration reaches a point

where it simply cannot abide a moment longer

and in an exothermic reaction

must decompose

into anger

or sorrow.

For you it was sorrow,

gentle sorrow.

You sat on the edge of the stage

and cried.