How Much Is This One?

My cousin at the dye factory, who stutters
had his 10-year pension embezzled by a Middle East — job broker and
killed himself.
If it's $1,000
my bed-ridden mother could be hospitalized,
my 29-year-old maid sister could get hitched.
If it's $10,000
I'd have to kiss ass for ten years.
$100,000 — is a rainbow beyond a mountain past a river
of which I cannot conceive even being born twice kicking and screaming.
My life's $4 for one day —
How much is yours?
They say our company president drinks $1,000 in a single night,
they say it costs $5 to feed his puppy for a day,
they say some Amazon's got $300,000,000 in the palm of her hand,
my cousin at the dye factory killed himself for $1,200, and
my little 16-year-old brother goes off to the factory, and
shit.
Our lives, our loves, our existence —
How much? How much?
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Author of original: 
Pak Nohae
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