Woodland burial – A Poem from Korea

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영팔정누정

Even in death,

I do not exist.

I have become tree roots.

Kim Kwan Sik, a seasoned poet from Korea, the Land of Morning Calm, shares his poem

Kim Kwan Sik- Korea-Sindh CourierPoet Mr. Kim Kwan Sik was born in Gongsan, Naju, Jeollanam-do. He studied at Gwangju National University of Education and completed graduate studies at Chosun University, Korea National University of Education, and Korea National Open University. He also completed doctoral coursework in creative writing at Soongsil University Graduate School. He was awarded in the literary criticism category of the Jeonnam Ilbo Spring Literary Contest in 1976 and won the New Writer Award in Poetry from Jayu Literature in 1998. His published works include 19 children’s poetry collections, such as Rabbit Footprints, 21 poetry collections, including The Power of Powder, 9 literary criticism books, and creative writing theory books, such as Methods and Practice of Modern Poetry Writing and How to Write Easily Like This with Prose. He has won the Baekgyo Literary Award Grand Prize, the Kim Woo-jong Literary Award for Literary Criticism, the Hwangjo Geunjeong Medal, and the Grand Prize of the Literary Creation Award. Currently, he serves as the head of the Korea Good Children’s Poetry Talent Donation Association, where he collects and publishes children’s poems from various poets each year and donates the collections to elementary schools nationwide. He is also an advisory board member of the Korea Literature Association, executive director of the quarterly Mountain Range of Creativity, editorial board member and new writer judge for the quarterly Lyric Literature, an advisory board member of the quarterly Hangul Literature, and an editorial advisor and new writer judge for the quarterly Poetry Creation.

Woodland-Korea-1Woodland burial

I do not exist.

The brief moment

I lived as a woman in my youth,

Even my name

Was replaced by your father’s “Honey.”

 

I forgot my name

And lived my whole life

As a pillar,

Passing down the bloodline.

 

Even in death,

I do not exist.

I have become tree roots.

***

Woodland-Korea수목장(樹木葬)

없다

젊은

여자로 살았던 짧은 순간

이름조차 아비가

여보바꿔 놓았다.

 

이름을 잊어버리고

평생을 핏줄 잇는

기둥으로 살아왔다.

 

죽어서도

없다.

나무뿌리가 되었다.

_____________ 

Read: The Green Alley – A Poem from Korea

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