There’s a mirror swaying in the wind,
Riding off on a pony’s thought.
Dr. Siyoung Doung is a poet from Korea
Hailing from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, Dr. Siyoung Doung graduated from the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Dongguk University and earned 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 in Korea 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. She was also a recipient of a creative grant from the Arts Council Korea in 2005. Dr. Doung is currently the President of the Korean Association of World Literature and lives in Seoul with her husband, a former university professor.
Time Madonna Riding the Moonlight Swing
Time Madonna Riding the Moonlight SwingThere’s a mirror swaying in the wind,
Riding off on a pony’s thought.
Passing trees that blow up the height of trees,
You toss a day like dice.
Pretending to be nine all alone,
You tear time apart, rip, rip
Memory,
A pocket where thoughts are stored—
Search through it.
Like a runaway, cars wander down Jongno’s streets.
A man hides inside laughter,
A woman hides inside tears,
Follow the grass hidden in roots.
A bony season, winter,
A woman’s glance hangs from an earring,
Waves surge in the laughter of four or five plump men.
Rhythm passes through evening,
Enters the soprano
Inside the TV,
The full moon rises, like a woman’s unseen breast.
Santa burns,
It’s as though the lively uproar is simmering the winter night.
Time Madonna
Rides the moonlight swing.
***
시간 마돈나가 달빛 그네를 타다
바람 속에 흔들리는 거울이 있지
조랑말 생각을 타고 가
키를 불어올리는 나무들 지나가
하루를 던져, 주사위
혼자 나인 척해,
시간을 북북 찢어-
기억-,
생각을 넣어두는 주머니,
뒤져봐
가출한 사람처럼 배회하는 종로 거리 자동차
웃음 속에 숨은 남자 하나,
울음 속에 숨는 여자 하나,
뿌리 속에 숨은 풀을 따라 해
비쩍 마른 계절, 겨울,
귀걸이에 매달린 여자 눈짓
뚱뚱한 너댓 남자 웃음 속에 파도쳐
리듬이 저녁을 지나가,
TV 속,
소프라노 속에 들어가,
안보이던 여자가슴 보름달로 떠올라
싼타가 불타
왁자지껄이 겨울밤을 끓여
시간 마돈나가
달빛 그네를 타
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