Two women pounding through life,

And one man who claimed to be from Como

Just the three of them,

But there, flowers of people burst into bloom,

In wild, splendid profusion.

Ms. Im Sol Nae, a poetess from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares her poem

Poet Ms. Im Sol Nae received the Newcomer Award from the monthly literary magazine Jayu Munhak in 1999. Her poetry collections include The QR Code of a Leaf, Amazon, That Transit Station, The Cry of an Awakened Amazon, Hong Nyeo, and many others. She has also received numerous literary honors, including the Yeongnang Poetry Award, the Korean Literary Critics Association Award, and the Korean Lyric Poetry Award, selection as a Sejong Excellent Book, the Poet’s Poet Award, and the Buddhist Literary Writers’ Award.

Three Souls

As the shadows of dusk stretched across the evening,

At a bulgogi place absurdly called The Nonsense,

A woman whose dishcloths were always clean,

A young, romantic, dashing man,

And a woman born with the gift of song

Gathered around a humble table.

 

In a small, melancholy dusk

Where snow seemed just about to fall,

A woman with a story aching in her bones,

A man whom everyone yearned to possess,

And a woman so tuneless

That a few nearby couldn’t help but snicker

Sat together in a shabby pot-lid joint.

One man always in love,

A woman living life without answers,

Lonely and beautiful,

And another, elegant with a proud nose held high.

 

They had hoped for snow to fall in heavy flurries

But only star-flowers bloomed through the night.

Two women pounding through life,

And one man who claimed to be from Como

Just the three of them,

But there, flowers of people burst into bloom,

In wild, splendid profusion.

***

세 사람

어스름 저녁발 드리울 때

엉터리 생고기 집

늘 행주가 뽀야니 뽀송뽀송 해야하는 한 여인과

젊고 낭만적이고 멋진 한 남자와

팔자로 노래 잘 하는 또 한 여인이 둘러 앉았다

 

눈발이라도 흩뿌릴 듯한

아담한 멜랑꼴리한 저녁

절절한 사연의 한 여인과

서로 갖고 싶은 한 남정과

노래 못해 주위 몇 사람이 고소해하는

또 한 여인이 허름한 솥뚜껑집에 둘러 앉았다

 

늘 연애하는 남자 일인

정답없이 삶을 사는

쓸쓸하고 아름다운 한 여인

콧대 높아 우아한 또 한 여인

 

눈이 펑펑 왔음 싶었는데 밤까지 별꽃만 폈다

쿵쿵 살아가는 두 여인과

자기는 꼬모에서 왔다는 한 남자

딱 셋이였는데

거기엔 사람꽃이 막 폈다, 흐드러지게

________________

Read: The Absence of a Tree