Bowl – A Poem from Korea

Oh Sae-young

Poet Mr. Oh Sae-young was born in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province in 1942. He graduated from Department of Korean Literature, College of Liberal Arts Seoul National University. He has 27 collections of poetry such as ‘The Other Side of Love’, ‘Shadow of the Wind’, and ‘Clap in the Dry Sky’, as well as 24 academic and prose books such as Poetics and Analytical Reading of Contemporary Korean Poetry. He received the Manhae Literary Award, the Mokwol Literary Award, the Jeong Ji-yong Literary Award, the Sowolsi Literary Award, and the Gosan Literary Award, as well as the Silver Crown Cultural Medal from the state. His poetry collection ‘The Checkerboard of the Night Sky’ in English was selected as one of the 12 Best Poetry Books in the United States in 2016 by the Chicago Review of Books, an American criticism magazine. His poems are translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Czech, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. He served as the president of the Korean Poets Association and is currently an honorary professor at Seoul National University, and a member of the national academy of arts.

Bowl

The broken bowl,

Become a blade.

At the center of moderation and balance

Stray power,

The broken circle stands up

Cold of reason open their eyes

Broken pieces,

Looking for blind love!

Now, I am barefoot

It is bare skin waiting to be cut.

A soul that matures deep inside the wound

The broken bowl,

Become a blade.

Whatever is broken,

Become a blade.

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그릇

깨진 그릇은

칼날이 된다.

절제와 균형의 중심에서

빗나간 힘,

부서진 원은 모를 세우고

이성의 차가운

눈을 뜨게 한다.

맹목盲目의 사랑을 노리는

사금파리여,

지금 나는 맨발이다.

베어지기를 기다리는

살이다.

상처 깊숙히서 성숙하는 혼魂

깨진 그릇은

칼날이 된다.

무엇이나 깨진 것은

칼이 된다.

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