She reached to flush the toilet again. The head sputtered, “N-no, just a minute—" She stayed her hand and looked down at the head in the toilet. It was probably more accurate to refer to it as “a thing that vaguely looks like a head” than an actual head. It was about two-thirds the size of an adult’s head and resembled a lump of carelessly slapped-together yellow and gray clay, with a few scattered clumps of wet hair.

어느 날 물을 내리고 화장실을 막 나오려 할 때였다. “어머니.”

Life is filled with strange happenings that are hard to fit into our understanding of the world. Many we let pass in order to get on with our days. But this was not something I could let pass. I talked to Tiechan’s neighbors and his friends, his family members and his enemies. Slowly, I pieced together what had pushed my friend to his tragic end. This is what I discovered.

申铁蟾，名兆定，阳曲人。以庚辰举人，官知县。主余家最久，庚戍秋在陕西试用，忽寄一札与余诀，其词恍惚迷离 ，抑郁幽咽，都不省为何语。而铁蟾固非不得志者，疑不能明也。

All poets wanted to be astronauts first / but the world was too real

Todos los poetas quisieron ser astronautas primero / Pero el mundo fue demasiado real