When I meet a rock or a wall
I want to slip my hand into the cracked wound no one sees
Ms. Kang Yeongeun’s poetry is known for its vivid sensory imagery and its exploration of the fundamental meanings of life.
Poet Ms. Kang Yeongeun is a South Korean poet, was born in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, in 1956. She earned a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Dongguk University. Her poetry is known for its vivid sensory imagery and its exploration of the fundamental meanings of life. She has published numerous poetry collections, including The Petals that Cry by Themselves, I Once Stumbled upon a Cloud (2004), The Green Silk Python, The First Shade, Beacon Grass, Beacon of the Sea, Mago’s Jar, A Gentle Poetics, The Bird Beyond, and Longing Gravity. Her selected poems are collected in A Poem for the Creeping Pine (2019). She has also published the essay collection Hydrangea Serrata Correspondence, as well as co-authored travel poetry collections such as The Crescent Moon of Tibet, Mingalaba, Myanmar, and Nazar Bonju. In addition, her work appears in the English-language anthology Faces of the Festival (featuring twelve poets). Her works have been selected for the ARKO Literary Creation Fund, the Sejong Excellent Book Award, the Korea Publishing Industry Promotion Agency’s Outstanding Content program, and the Literature Sharing Program. She has received numerous literary honors, including the Excellence Award of the Siye Art Prize, the Korean Poetry Literature Award, the Korean Writers’ Association Award, the Literature Youth Award, and the Seogwipo Literary Award. She previously served as an instructor of poetry writing at the Lifelong Education Center of Seoul National University of Science and Technology. She is currently a board member of the Korean Poets’ Association and an editorial board member of Literature Youth.
Ivy
IvyWhen I meet a rock or a wall
I want to slip my hand into the cracked wound no one sees
Leaning against that hardened body
I want to take root—tenaciously—in the crumbling crevices of life
O all sorrows clinging parasitically to the knees of the earth!
As a single astonishing line that crawls up to the edge of a cliff
I want to go beyond myself.
***
담쟁이
바위나 벽을 만나면 아무도 모르게 금이 간 상처에 손 넣고 싶다
단단한 몸에 기대어 허물어진 생의 틈바구니에 질긴 뿌리 내리고 싶다
지상의 무릎 위에 기생하는 모으든 슬픔이여!
벼랑 끝까지 기어오르는 기막힌 한 줄의 문장으로
나는 나를 넘고 싶다
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