The new website is… AlexClermontWrites.com
Hey everyone. So I’m moving from this blog to my own .com. Actually I’ve moved already. This post is to tell you where. To continue reading stuff I put out, please visit me at http://www.alexclermontwrites.com/. The site is super pretty and what’s more, It’ll let you know about my upcoming book, based on the “Korean Quickies” … Continue reading
Korean Quickie – Male Bonding
I wasn’t sure what I was seeing at the time, but after my first few months in South Korea a reality about life here made itself clear: Koreans like to drink. Even more, many like to get drunk. Like any and all observations based solely on one’s own experience, it’s biased, and I accept the fact that I may be totally wrong in this generalization. But I don’t think so.
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Superheroes
Superman gets his powers by absorbing light from the sun. His body takes all that visible light, those gamma rays, that ultraviolet light, even the infrared light I can’t see, and sucks it all in. His cells absorb all that and turn it into heat vision, super strength, flight ability, etcetera. Superman has saved the world a million times – in the comics.
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Sunshine
I’m a sun worshiper – in a way. I don’t strive for the perfect tan, but I hold a secular reverence for the sun and the symbolic meaning we’ve given it. It represents everything good and nurturing in life, and this is my short ode to it: a piece of prose poetry that took me too long to finish. If you like this short read please use the social media tools below. Thanks.
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You wake up, but you’re still asleep.
Your dreams remain with you. Winning lottery tickets fly around in your head, alongside fantasies of childhood parental approval. Instead of saying “no” that time, you see the possibilities of a “yes.” You think of your ex-whoever and relive the moment when you realized it wouldn’t last. You feel the tear on your left check that you didn’t wipe away.
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Dead Labor
I’ve been writing a lot. In between stories when I felt stuck I sometimes wrote a short piece to get my mind onto to another topic and let it stretch. This piece is the outcome of one of those mental exercises. I revamped it for this post, while also taking inspiration from the political happenings in the U.S. and the larger world I share with the rest of you. Its theme is similar to the novel I’m currently writing, which will make me rich and famous maybe. Hope you enjoy this little bit of philosophical and/or/nor political prose.
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I leaned against a display of computer towers and computer printed price tags, while on my fifth day in a row at that place that I didn’t want to be in. A bank was holding me hostage. If I left they would kill me; they would starve me; they would let disease consume me; they would have me freeze under a bridge; they would turn me into food for vultures with bad habits.
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Happy 2012 everybody (my blog’s 2011 stats in review)
Happy 2012 to everybody who’s concerned about that. For those who aren’t, happy wonderful day to you in general. This is unimportant, but just in case some of you wanted to know who else is looking at my posts you can check the 2011 stats that Wordpress prepared for me. The link is below. One thing that surprised me: Some one from Nigeria visited (and hopefully read) my blog. One thing that didn’t surprise me: people who found me through search engines “came searching mostly for Korean Sex.” Maybe it was the Nigerian, or the guy from Brazil…
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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.
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Korean Quickie – Mothers and Daughters
The stuff described here happened a while ago. A lot of interesting things happen to me in Korea, but I can’t always think of a way to frame them for a blog post. Some recent events made me think of this incident. They gave me a reason to write it, as well as something to tie it all together. Hope you think it’s well written, that the few alliterations and assonances are clever, that it had something to say, and that, overall, I’m pretty dope. If you do, thank you.
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When I first came to Korea there were a few things I noticed. Firstly, I’m strange and deserve to be gawked at. Secondly, Korean women dress half naked, at least their bottom half. Anything short of showing pubic hair is socially acceptable. Third, Korean kids are damn cute.
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My Brother’s Eulogy
A few weeks ago my older brother, Josely Elie, died. He was in a hospital where members of my family visited him as he faded away. I was told that doctors gave him three months, which would’ve given me time to visit as well. That didn’t happen and I was in Korea while he passed away with my parents watching over him. I wasn’t able to go to the wake. I wasn’t able to go to the cremation ceremony. I was, however, able to write a eulogy that would be read in my place. This is a modified version of that eulogy. It’s written here to be more diary-like with, selfishly, more Alex-centered details then the one I wanted read.
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A few years ago, about ten, Josely and I were wasting an hour playing video games. This happened more often then I liked, but I had a lot of free time. At twenty one I had quit college and I quit my job. While pursuing a doomed dream I decided to read some books, write a little, and think a lot about the world I lived in. In those months me and my brother had been spending a lot of time together and I was constantly asking him questions about his life.
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Something Missing
I always practiced writing, even when I sucked (an arguable point in time that may still exist). When I wasn’t practicing with fiction, which was too often, I made a point of turning everything else into a writing project.
Years ago I wrote an email to a loved one who was far away. I liked it a lot and a year after writing it I made it into this prose poem. I go to it every so often and change this word or that word. It’s finished now so here it is. If you feel so inclined please share it using the social media tools below.
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Took the subway this Thursday instead of driving. Wanted to avoid the traffic and nasty weather outside (the day’s snowstorm would’ve blinded me on the road). Got there, and I saw this obnoxiously loud group on my uptown ride on the E train. They got on at Continental Avenue, and were talking in that language/code that I could never decipher.
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Korean Quickie – My Home Until I’m Home
I live in South Korea. It’s my home, but it’s not my home. This is a fictionalized true story of me coming to some resolution about the contradiction. It happened about two weeks ago and I hope it’s as fun to read as it was to write. Please comment if it is. Thank you.
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My summer vacation was fun enough. I went to a beach; I drank apple martinis; I spent time writing; I slept late; I got really physical with a Korean girl in a damn sauna of a club called Club Maktum down in Busan on a night where I was a good wing man to a sexually frustrated friend, but slept alone. It was fun enough, but it wasn’t what I planned.
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