Hollow eyes, hollow noses,
Skulls sitting, standing, lying down, neatly stacked one upon another,
Their brains long drained away.
Poet Dr. Lee Hye Seon
Hailing from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, Dr. Lee Hye-Seon is a poet, literary critic, Doctor of Literature, and professor of poetry writing. She has published several poetry collections, including Extinguishing with Fire, Burning in Water, Half of the Spilled Liquor, Every day is a good day, Birdsong Delivery, If You Happen to Meet the Wind, The One Who Knows Me Better Than Myself, and A Divine Being (One God). Additionally, she has authored books such as An Evening with Lee Hye-Seon’s Poetry, Lee Hye-Seon’s Stroll Through Famous Poems, Literature and the Transfiguration of Dreams, and My Father’s Educational Methods. She also compiled ‘Corona? Korea!’ She has received numerous literary awards, including the Yoon Dong-Ju Literary Award, Korean Contemporary Poet Award, Korean Arts and Culture Grand Prize, Critics’ Association Criticism Award, Dongguk Literary Award, Pyoam Ikjae Literary Award, Korean Poetry and Literature Award, and Seonsa Literary Award. She has taught at various universities. She has also served as Vice Chairman of the Korean Writers’ Association, a member of the Literature Promotion Policy Committee at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Chairperson of the Korean Women Writers’ Association, and President of organizations such as the Dongguk Literary Society, Korean Poetry and Literature Writers’ Association, Gangdong Literary Association and Distinguished Scholar with IAE. Her current Positions are Advisor to the Korean Writers’ Association (KWA), Advisor to PEN International Korea Center, Honorary Chairperson of the Korean Women Writers’ Association and 4th President of the Korean Association of World Literature. Her poetry has been translated and introduced in various countries, including Italy, Germany, Egypt, Greece, Belgium, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Albania, Vietnam, Mexico, South America, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
Unreachable
I encountered Ron Mueck’s* multitude of skulls,
Piled layer upon layer, all the way to the lofty ceiling.
Hollow eyes, hollow noses,
Skulls sitting, standing, lying down, neatly stacked one upon another,
Their brains long drained away.
They gazed at me tenderly—
The sorrowful eyes of lives before this one, of lives before those lives, of countless kalpas gone by;
And the loves of tomorrow and the day after, the loves of lives yet to come.
I have carried them within me,
Dragging that multitude
Through every single cell of my being,
Wandering through the muddy fields of this earthly life.
All this time, I have merely been counting the vibrations of cesium atoms.
Not a breath of wind comes down from the sky.
A dream lies face down; not even a blade of grass stirs.
And as I stand before the wind that refuses, utterly, to make room for me,
I watch myself—
Myself, my own—
The drifting cloud, the singing cicada,
The love of a grub beneath the earth that called out to you, singing itself to death, the idle slumber here on this street, there beneath that tree, upon your back
Dragging along the immeasurable selves within me,
A cow, overloaded with the burden of a lifetime, climbs once again today,
Prostrating itself with its whole body, over Sumeru, over the Mountain of Skulls.
A skull, its brain long drained away,
Searching for the dreaming me.
* Ron Muck: An Australian-born contemporary sculptor renowned for his hyperrealistic human figures and sculptures, often rendered on a monumental or unusually small scale.
닿을 수 없는
론 뮤익*의 해골무리를 만났다
높은 천정까지 첩첩 쌓여 있었다
뻥 뚫린 눈, 뻥 뚫린 코
앉고 서고 누르고 차곡차곡 쌓인
뇌수가 다 빠져나간 해골들
다정히 나를 바라보는
전생 전전생, 억겁의 슬픈 눈
내일 또 내일, 미래생의 내 사랑들
나는 내 안에,
세포 하나마다 저 무리들을
끌고, 끌며
이승 진흙밭을 헤매어 왔구나
세슘원자의 진동만 헤아리고 있었구나
하늘에서는 바람 한 점 불어오지 않는다
엎드린 몽상, 풀잎 하나 까딱하지 않는다
도무지 곁을 내주지 않는 바람 앞에 서 있는 나를 바라보는
나는, 나의
흐르는 구름, 노래하는 매미
죽도록 노래하며 너를 부르던 땅속 굼벵이사랑
너의 등에 업혀 무위도식하던 이 거리 저 나무 위의 단잠
헤아릴 수 없는 내 속의 나를 끌고
한 생의 짐 넘치도록 실은 소가 오늘도
수미산 해골산을 오체투지로 넘는다
뇌수가 빠져나간 해골
꿈꾸는 나를 찾아서,
*론 뮤익(Ron Mueck): 오스트레일리아 태생의 현대 조각가로, 기념비적으로 거대한 크기부터 매우 작은 크기까지 인간의 모습을 극도로 사실적으로 재현한 조각 작품으로 유명하다.
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