The Harvest Moon

This past weekend was the harvest moon. It’s a time when the earth is the closest to the moon. In Korea and many other Asian cultures, it’s one of the biggest holidays. We gather to give gratitude to nature for her abundant harvest and it’s also a time where we honor our ancestors. Since immigrating to the United States, the cultural practice of celebrating Chuseok (추석) has been lost to me but this past weekend, I intentionally took the time to go outside and sit under the moon in the evening. It was glorious and felt like a homecoming. Here’s the poem that tumbled out the next morning.

The Harvest Moon

— Jeena Cho 조지현

The harvest moon. I knew her once.

Even loved her

Didn’t we dance to her song once?

Offering her our deepest gratitude

 

Then I forgot

This erasure wasn’t voluntary

This relocation to the land that isn’t mind

Yet, the harvest moon has made herself known

 

Playfully, she dances on my blanket

Wrapped around my body

She says, come back, my love

Remember

Remember your roots

 

I look up

she says,

let your tears fall

let the grief wash over you

let me hold your heartache

let my light heal you

Let me fill you with joy once more

 

And I make love to her

She graces my skin

Touching my face

I reach my hands up to the sky

And embrace her light

 

And I re-member

I say, Chuseok (추석), Thanksgiving

I say, Charye (차례), the honoring of the ancestors

I look at the photograph of my grandmothers

and my mother holding me as an infant

My body craves the food we once ate

Newly harvested fruit (햇과일), Songpyeon (송편), Japchae (잡채), Jeon (전), Galbijjim (갈비찜)

 

And I can feel the pull of my motherland

She is calling me

She says, come back to me

Come and drink my water

Lay your body against mine

Allow the ocean to wash over you

Come and breathe me

And bring me your daughter

so she too can remember