Gämmi Pass,
What kind of life did you cross to become such a high ridge?
The wilderness is silent like a vacuum.
Dr. Siyoung Doung, an eminent poetess from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares her poem
Dr. Siyoung Doung graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Dongguk University and earned a Ph.D. in Korean Language and Literature from Hanyang University. She further expanded her academic pursuits by studying humanities at Regensburg University in Germany. Her teaching career includes positions as a professor at Korea Tourism University in Korea and Jilin University of Finance and Economics in China. Her literary journey began in 2003 with her poetry debut in the literary magazine Dacheung. Since then, she has published numerous poetry collections, including Future Hunting, In Search of a Strange God, The Phone Call from God, The Eyes of November, The Carnival of Time (Anthology), Was It You, Was It Me, or Was It Longing?, The Scent of Secrets, Aria of Everyday Life, The River Flowing Under the Pen, The Magic Letters, and The Horizon Never Gets Wet. In addition to poetry, Doung has contributed significantly to literary research with works such as Roh Cheon-myung’s Poetry and Semiotics, Korean Literature and Semiotics, and Semiotics of Modern Poetry. Her exploration of literature extends into travel writing, with essay collections like Encountering Culture Through Travel and Encountering Travel Through Literature. Her literary excellence has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Park Hwa-mok Literary Award (2010), Poetry and Poetics Young Poet Award (2011), the Grand Prize at the Korean Buddhist Literature Awards (2018), the 32nd Dongguk Literary Award (2019), the Yeongrang Literary Award for Criticism (2020), and the 7th Woltan Park Jong-hwa Literary Award by the Korean Writers’ Association (2021). Most recently, she received the Literary Youth Work Award in 2024. In recognition of her contributions to literature, she was also a recipient of a creative grant from the Arts Council Korea in 2005.
Dr. Doung is currently the President of the Korean Association of World Literature and lives in Seoul with her husband, a former university professor.
Beyond Interpretation, Into Question
Beyond Interpretation, Into Question― Gämmi Pass
(Gämmi Pass: a mountain pass in Leukerbad, Switzerland)
Gämmi Pass,
What kind of life did you cross to become such a high ridge?
The wilderness is silent like a vacuum.
Abundance in emptiness—,
A massive stone bowl,
Filled with the flowing liquid of something primordial.
The road is long and time is short.
Beneath the short skirt of time,
A glimpse of Gämmi Pass’s long, long bridges.
A signpost of waiting, a tree,
Stepping stones across the green.
A solitary figure stands, tree-like,
Roots sinking deep into time.
On windy days, ㅍ(p) is busy—
From what kind of sleep do flowers awaken?
The orthography of wildflowers.
Who is speaking?
Whose dropped shard of laughter is that?
What stares down at us
With such intricate patterns?
A life that only practices the process
Five in the afternoon
Walks a golden path.
Time floats
Tomorrow endlessly arriving.
It goes beyond interpretation
And into question.
***
해석을 넘어가고 질문으로 간다
―갬미페스
갬미페스,
무슨 삶을 넘다가 이리 높은 고개가 되었나
광야는 진공처럼 고요하다
텅 빔의 풍요―,
거대 바위 그릇,
흘러 담기는 원시의 액체
길은 길고 시간은 짧다
짧은 스커트, 시간 아래
길고 긴 갬미페스 다리 조금 보인다
기다림의 이정표, 나무
초록을 건너다니는 징검다리
나무처럼 서 있는 사람 한 그루
시간에 뿌리 깊이 내린다
바람 부는 날은 ㅍ이 바빠―
꽃들은 무슨 잠에서 깨어나나
야생화 표기법
누가 하는 말인가
누가 떨구고 간 웃음 파편인가
무엇이 이리도 무늬 내려 보는가
과정만 연습하는 목숨의 길
오후 다섯 시가
금빛 길을 간다
시간은 부유하다
끝없이 오는 내일
해석을 넘어가고
질문으로 간다
*갬미페스 : 스위스 로이커바트의 고개
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