Last night I was surrounded by poets. I was not afraid though they brought out the soju..
My friend Leanna invited me to this party for the publication of a huge anthology of Modern Korean Poetry... There was a reading, and they were thrilled to see a wai guk (foreigner) in the crown and immediately enlisted my help to read the English translations of a few poems, which I did.
Such a nice warm crowd! After a dramatic "poetry play" we went out to dinner for some spicy something soup. Everyone was quite nice, and I even got a "uncertain" marriage proposal from a drunken poet, which I politely declined.. I'm going to write a story about the book, which will be out soon. Here's a poem by one of the guys I read the English for, who seemed happy with my rendition. =)
Poem by Kang-Ro Yun
Landscape of the Vacant
Flower Tree!
Keats said
Beauty is forever.
Those who glitter with the name of flase vision
Are not my flower trees.
Flower tree, I lean on you
Longing for
One who was a flower tree so aptly.
The name whose flower tints were so lustrous
As the day grew darker
Has been erased, leaving behind
Anonymous traces like meteors.
The remaining vacant sky is crystal clear as truth.
On a spring day tward sunset
I stay by your side.
By your side
My dream collapses lightly.
It breaks into pieces, flying away
With a nihlism that despairs with a glow.
Flower tree!
I embrace you.
The street is fraught with rusty name plates.
My house stands there.
Flower tree!
I'm your petal.
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