“Lying in the Breeze” and “Reed” by Lee Ji-Soo
Lying in the Breeze I felt the sky. A breeze blowing coolly, trees gently rustling. I ride a cloud and feel the sky. Reed Walking through the grass, reeds sway softly, shake. It seems...
Korean Literature in Translation
by Jibril · Published Tuesday, July 30th, 2013 · Last modified Wednesday, August 10th, 2016
Lying in the Breeze I felt the sky. A breeze blowing coolly, trees gently rustling. I ride a cloud and feel the sky. Reed Walking through the grass, reeds sway softly, shake. It seems...
by Jibril · Published Sunday, July 28th, 2013 · Last modified Thursday, July 23rd, 2020
1 If at the edge of a dizzying cliff you’re pacing in the face of the wind, I won’t call out to you. Clinging to your collar, I won’t be an overbearing noise. What could...
Go not alone but together. Walk not ahead nor behind but in step. At distance that cannot compare to the amount of our tender longing. Live calling each other’s names. Until the day you reach...
by Jibril · Published Friday, July 19th, 2013 · Last modified Monday, March 30th, 2020
Whether promising or obscuring, there’s an awful glow, I know, for anyone, which piles higher than the polar lights. On this bank, a disappearing overpass, a disappearing river. On the other, I see a willow...
by Jibril · Published Tuesday, July 16th, 2013 · Last modified Wednesday, August 10th, 2016
Like an amputee’s discarded leg, I’m lying down. Somebody closes a window. The passing sky overhead resembles bloodstains on an empty ICU bed in a darkened room. Someone is leaving me. The hurried clack, clack...
Rain is falling. When rain falls, I take out my cardigan from the closet to put on; when I wear my cardigan, I place my hands in the pockets; when I place my hands in...
I wish that you didn’t get angry watching a stream, even when it rises to overflow its banks. I wish that I wasn’t afraid of coming across a cat in the night, that even if...
I’ve come here avoid somebody, yet here I am missing someone. Somebody, who are you? Stars crawl out and fill the night sky, resting their warmth against a cold body. They call out a name....
by Jibril · Published Friday, July 5th, 2013 · Last modified Sunday, June 14th, 2020
Thumb, index finger, middle finger. As you stare at your three outstretched fingers, I tell you that you’re making the face of someone about to cry. Your chest is torn in sadness, and because of...