Kang Byeongcheol’s Poem

Mr. Kang Byeongcheol was born in Seosan, Chungnam. After serving as a Korean language teacher for 36 years, he is now dedicated to writing. He published his poetry collections, “Childhood Diary”, “Hyenas Seek Rotten Meat” “Flowers Are Tears”, “Homo Middle School Sapiens”, “I Love You, All Fools”, and “Let’s Fight Again”. He published the full-length novels “Harujil”, “Tomato and Potato”, “Dalgni” the novel collections “Fourteen Years Old, Jongno”, and “Chopei Is Dead”. He published prose collections such as “Mother’s Table”, “Writer’s Seat”, and “Teacher Tsumung’s Misadventures”.

As the eldest of eight siblings,

Wash dishes and clean the room as soon as I grow up

When I lay on the floor doing my homework,

What studying, what cursed studying?

“Will you become a judge or a prosecutor?”

Grandmother’s scolding was not really a curse.

She said it was lucky not to become kindling wood.

I tried hard to find happiness, fitting into the count of letters,

But all the girls in fairy tales were only daughters.

Meeting princes from neighboring lands on white horses,

Finally becoming queens and having grand feasts –

I never dreamed of such distant stories.

If I had lived alone like Cinderella,

Or had only one or two siblings like Mong-sil,

I would have read as much as I wanted in my own room.

While gathering the laundry, a ‘tap’ on my forehead

With the gentle embrace of the spring breeze,

It moistens the corners of my eyes in the softness of April.