(Seoul Public Toilets)

The air comes on hard
like a soldier in Itaewon—
heavy with urgent bioligies,
not at all shy
about the facts of life
that it makes no effort to mask
with perfumed niceties.
If you need to bad enough,
who are you to complain.
Afterwards, only a splash
of cold water, no towel offered
and out you go,
relieved and uncertain.

—

Christopher Hornbacker is a PhD student at The University of Southern Mississippi studying creative writing in the Center for Writers. He is currently a reader for the online journal Memorious. From 2005-09 he called Seoul, South Korea home.