Poet Mr. Kang Moon-shin – Korea
Hailing from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, Poet Mr. Kang Moon-shin received the New Year Literary Award from The Seoul Shinmun in 1990 and again from The Dong-A Ilbo in 1991. He served as the founding head and later the fifth branch head of the Seogwipo Branch of the Korean Writers’ Association. His published poetry collections include Please Call It “Seogwipo…”, One Who Has Raised a Tree, A Certain Love, and Fields of Haedong. Over the years, he has been honored with numerous awards, among them the 1st Seogwipo Artist Award (2008), the Sijo Poetry Award (2010), the Korean Sijo Poets Association Award (2012), the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Culture Award (2013), the Joun Literary Award (2017), the Lee Ho-woo & Lee Young-do Sijo Literature Award (2021), the New Korean Award in the Culture category (2013), and the Proud Culture and Arts Grand Prize (2024). He currently serves as the Director of the Kang Moon-shin Literary House and as the CEO of Seokpa Agricultural Products. He is currently the Director of the Kang Moon-shin Literary House and the CEO of Seokpa Agricultural Products.
Day by Day
Day by DayDawn on the farm opens with the jubilant greetings of two dogs
Walking toward the old pine woods along the Siseon Hermitage trail,
I suddenly meet the bright, alert eyes of a mountain roe deer.
I look back at the tangerine trees I planted last spring in the stony field,
gently checking their color, patting them, encouraging them—
even the long, hot August sun is never enough for them.
Like a tiny mountain village where evening cooking smoke begins to rise,
like the sound of a church bell from a small tin-roofed chapel,
I gather my hands softly as another gentle day comes to a close.
***
하루, 하루
농장의 신새벽은 개 두 마리 환호로 열린다
시선암詩禪庵 산책로의 노송老松 숲에 이르러
문득 그 눈망울 초롱초롱 산 노루도 보느니
지난 봄 돌밭에 심은 귤나무들 돌아본다
그 혈색 곰곰 살피며 다독인다 북돋운다
긴긴 해 8월 땡볕은 아껴 써도 모자라
저녁연기 피어오르는 올망졸망 산마을같이
그 마을 양철지붕 성당의 종소리같이
은은히 저무는 하루 두 손 고이 모은다
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