2007 . Seoul at Noon
Today, a nude photo, halfway torn
At a crossroad on an alley wall
Amid the eateries of Sinsadong
And still, the Earth spins—
Gallileo's whine
2007 . Seoul at Night
Mute tree, mute bird
A picture of me, sitting
Or
An island frozen over in the dark
Not that, either, but a loud bird sneezing
Waning Landscape
Are they crying, or laughing, as they go
The geese from the reed forest flying in a flock
And the sky, the autumn sky, its throat sunk in the kill
Forest
To live like that, to go on living like that
Mountains forming valleys to let the waters flow
And trees breeding insects under their rough bark
The Sound of My Own Cry
In the woods at noon
I hear a bird cry out
On the shore, mid-morning,
I hear the gulls
When will I hear
The sound of my own cry?
This Body of Mine
I went to the top of Namsan and watched the sun go down
Seoul was a dark, red, frothing swamp
And in it, this body of mine, a leech stuck to a duckweed leaf
Six Zen Poems
Musan Cho Oh-hyun
translated from the Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl
