POEM BY KIM BOMSEO – SOUTH COREA
Poetess Ms. Kim Bomseo (real name Kim Mi-hee) was born in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, in 1968. She graduated from Hallym University’s Graduate School of Social Welfare with a master’s degree. She is a Vice president of Korean Association of World LiteratureIn 2019, she won the 19th Quarterly Literary Sensitivity Award for New Writers.
She wrote poetry collections Touching the Forehead of the Stars, Cherry Blossom Anniversary Attack Incident and Decasi Sky Ticket Office.
WOODLAND BURIAL
I planted my father
My father wandered around the fields all his life trying to make a few pyeong(3.3㎡) of shade.
He won’t fall again
May he take deep roots and cast wide shade.
Tamp down the soil tightly,
Give plenty of water,
I planted my father on the windy hill
THE NIGHT THAT TOOK THE SHADOW AWAY FROM IT
The night is long when the shadow is taken away
Old longing rushes in
Tonight too
It seems difficult to fall asleep easily
I won’t regret what I lost
I need more composure.
Only then will my soul be able to rest properly.
I’ll have to ask the flowers outside the door tomorrow morning.
When will I be able to stand as myself?”
FRACTAL OF LIFE
The land where the sun is buried at 90 degrees north latitude
Even the stars were buried
The white light of youth,
It didn’t fade away for a long time
white blood stains
I can’t open my eyes to this sad tone
A static language that makes even the earth heavenly.
Even in my dreams,
I pray to remember the language
The earth swallows all the blood of the stars.
Only then does the earth turn bloody
Fluff sprouts on the trees,
A cluster of flowers resembling a star open its eyes.
