Gwangju Writes: Whose Onus Is It, Anyway?

more to himself than the woman. Geoffrey Reynard stared at the walls around him, as if one may present an answer for what to do.

‘You said something about two chances and then you’re out’.

‘Yes’.

‘What if both of my new freckles are fainter and I lose my two chances. What happens then?’ ‘You go on’.

A predictable confused look. ‘On? On where?’

Geoffrey Reynard had asked the woman this question forty-eight times during meetings that he had no recollection of, as did the others whom she met with. Another punishment, another reminder how she had failed, how she had feared living. Her body had not concocted an anaesthesia for this question, had not found the way to detach itself from the fleeting pain that always came whenever posed to her.

‘I cannot answer. I have not seen it myself’.

‘Why not?’

The idiot. His insensitive questions were fingernails clawing at her insides, scratch after scratch. Replying with dismissal, the woman had learned, was the best way. The only lesson that years of imprisonment had taught her. ‘I stayed here. I did not try at another life, I did not try to live. In my head, I saw the freckle as quantifiable – as a measure of if I succeeded or failed. I feared failure and I did not try for success. I did not live, nor did I die.’

She did not want to discuss that particular subject anymore. ‘Now, what is your decision, Geoffrey Reynard?’

The Author

English teacher by trade and keen traveler the rest of the time, Ellie Goodwin has been to 36 different countries, lived in China for over three years, and has lived in Gwangju for eight months. In her free time, she enjoys (you guessed it) traveling, hiking, reading, and the occasional soju. Instagram: @elliee_goodwin

Whose Onus Is It, Anyway?

By Muthukumar Elangovan

www.openai.com

We’re into the bleak and barren. Naught we’ll gain from heaven!

It’s not an idle tale, Our future is already pale!

Water and warmth are rising, hark! Let’s halt, ere all goes dark!

Never we’ll see green, Let’s forbid before our children scream!

The land of familiar places will change; Let’s do something before it gets strange!

What lies ahead isn’t hidden, Let our thoughts for deeds awaken!

It’ll be a sepulcher of the Anthropocene, Let’s undo it afore it’s an everyday scene!

Once again Mother Earth has given birth, Let’s fulfill this New Year with a feat of worth!

The Author

Muthukumar Elangovan, PhD, is a biologist at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST). He is a naturalist, loves reading nonfiction books, and writes poetry, short stories, and a range of other items in his blog. One of his pursuits is to promote scientific literacy and popularize science among the general public. Email: pentomuthu@gmail.com