Life is like a swaying suspension bridge
We cross amid uncertainty.
Dr. Siyoung Doung
Poet Dr. Siyoung Doung graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Dongguk University and went on to earn 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 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. Currently serving as the fifth President of the Korean Association of World Literature (KAOWL), Dr. Doung continues to foster literary exchange between Korea and the international community and contribute to the development of world literature. Most recently, she has attracted international attention with the publication of two Korean-English poetry collections: The Horizon Never Gets Wet and Like Flowers Blooming Together Without a Promise, the latter published as part of the KAOWL & CNPN Golden Pen Anthology.
Life is a Suspension Bridge
Life is like a swaying suspension bridge we cross amid uncertainty.
We love amid the swaying,
we laugh and cry, and sing amid the rocking.
Beneath an endless void, with neither beginning nor end,
above a thousand-fathom precipice,
as if in jest,
without even a comma to pause,
we have crossed it, swaying,
and still we cross it, swaying,
on our way to the other side.
출렁다리
삶은 흔들리면서 건너는 출렁다리
흔들림에 사랑하고
웃고 울고 노래한다
시작도 끝도 없는 무한 허공 그 아래
천길 낭떨어지 그 위
농담처럼
쉼표도 없이
흔들리며 건너오고
흔들리며 건너간다
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