The Longing Passes 1964
Previously published in Kwŏn, Ch’ŏn-hak, and Ha-na Kim. 2011. 2H₂ + O₂ = 2H₂O. Cambridge, MA: Tamal Vista.
I Long For People
November 25th, 2013 by Staff
by Ch‘ŏn-hak Kwŏn
(Cheonhak Kwon)
Got a screwdriver, anyone?
Please loosen my joints stiffened with rust
as I am carried away by the muddy flood
If there’s anyone with their throat choked up
who has felt it hard to even breathe like me
I will bore a hole in you with my gimlet
On the narrow path
while voyaging together toward death
after passing the time when we were nails
we tighten the loosened screws
and straighten the bent nails
sometimes becoming a gimlet
and boring a hole in the suffocating chest
becoming a hammer
and driving in a protruding nail head
Give me a calloused hand, anyone
who can nail down the surest way of living
사람이 그립다
권 천학
누구, 나사틀이 없어요?
흙탕물에 휩쓸려 떠내려가는 동안
녹이 슬어 굳어진 관절을 좀 풀어주세요
바짝 조여진 목숨으로
누구, 나처럼 숨쉬기조차 힘든 사람 있다면
내가 가진 송곳으로 뚫어드리죠
세상바다를 함께 건너는
동반의 구간 비좁은 통로에서
서로가 못이 되었던 시간을 지나
풀어진 나사 조여주고
굽어진 못을 펴주면서
때로는 송곳이 되어
막힌 가슴 뚫어도 주고
망치가 되어
잘못 삐져나온 못대가리 두드려
확실하게 사는 방법을
못박아 주는
누구,
공이 박힌 손 . 좀 . 주 . 세 . 요
Born in Japan, raised in South Korea, poet, essayist and writer Chun-hak Kwon (Cheonhak Kwon) studied at the Graduate School of Korea University. Now residing in Toronto, she was a columnist for Seoul Newspaper and Kwanak Munhwa Newspaper. Cheonhak has published numerous books, including Dictionary of Korean Proverb and Quotation, and The Sky in Bronze Mirror (poems about the ancient Korean kingdom of Paekje), I am Still in an Apple Seed (poems about trees), Gaea Being Ill in Bed (poems about the environment), and Loneliness Virus. She has also been the recipient of many awards including the Modern Buddhism Literary Award (first prize), the Si wa Ŭisik Literature Award and the Kyung Hee University Overseas Korean Literary Award (Grand Prize). She served as Editor-in-chief of Blue Note, a web magazine of the Korean Literature Library.
Her poems and essays are regularly featured in Toronto Korean-language newspapers. I Long for People is Cheonhak Kwon’s second poem in Ginger Post.