North, Not South
written by: Elena Shakhnovsky
My nerves have finally settled.
At last, I like Korean movies —
South, not North, where
a director and an actress, ex-lovers,
shot seven films over eight years,
kidnapped from one Korea to the other,
until they escaped.
There’s one called Pulgasari,
a local monster, akin to Godzilla,
a mix of tiger, bull, bear,
elephant, something else —
This detour is just a way to avoid
telling the story —
a girl, blacksmith’s daughter,
planning to poison the monster,
ended up as his dinner.
The country I ran away from
is now also Korea —
North, not South, where
evil and snow still remain,
but there’s no way out.
I sense the climax coming when
the girl’s meek look left no doubt:
five, maybe eight minutes
before she’d slaughter the entire town.
The lights came up,
and the bucket of popcorn overturned.
That could be a very short movie —
he takes her out
brushes her hand,
or maybe slides into her jeans.
We don’t know him,
and he doesn’t know her.
He starts chewing popcorn.
Then she turns, close-up,
and looks at him — calm
but maybe
just
a bit
too
intently.
- North, Not South - May 20, 2026
