The horizon does not get wet
It gets soaked in longing.
Dr. Siyoung Doung, a poet from Korea, shares her poetry
Dr. Siyoung Doung, hailing from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, 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. She is the President of ‘Korean Association of World Literature’
The Horizon Does Not Get Wet
The Horizon Does Not Get WetThe horizon does not get wet
It gets soaked in longing.
A window that wipes away absence,
A water balsam is in bloom
Knotweed flowers are on their way
Fallen leaves are scribbles
The afternoon of life is red
The horizon does not get wet
It gets soaked in longing
A window that wipes away absence,
A water balsam is in bloom
Knotweed flowers are on their way
Fallen leaves are scribbles
The afternoon of life is red
One shadow follows
So that you won’t be lonely
And I kiss “I, you and also”
***
수평선은 물에 젖지 않는다
수평선은 물에 젖지 않는다수평선은 물에 젖지 않는다
그리움에 젖는다
없음을 닦아내는 창,
물봉선이 피어 있다
여뀌꽃이 오고 있다
낙엽은 낙서
목숨의 오후가 붉다
외롭지 말라고
림자 하나 따라온다
나 너 그리고에 입맞춤한다
***
Squid
Its body is an arrow.
An arrow pointing—where to?
A drifting arrow through the open sea,
Does it mean there’s nowhere in particular to go?
To live,
Is it simply
To wander?
***
오징어
몸이 화살표다
어디로 가라는 화살표인가?
온 바다 헤매는 화살표,
따로, 방향할 곳이 없다는 거냐?
사는 건,
그냥,
헤매는 거란 말인가?
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