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An Empty Lot scrap
by Choi Seung-Ho
October 31, 2015
Author Bio 작가 소개
Choi Seung-Ho
“On a night I lie in cold so sharp it frosts the tongue, the corpse-dresser arrives bearing the clothes of the underworld / Now, whom shall I ask about what comes after death? / I bring my ear to his mouth / Even if a dead body were to exhale, / what issues forth is chilling / hollowness.” (<세속도시의 즐거움 2>, 《세속도시의 즐거움》, 세계사, 1990 / “Sesokdosiui jeulgeoum 2” (The Pleasures of the Secular City 2), Sesokdosiui jeulgeoum)
Choi Seung-Ho is a poet who probes the contradictions of modern society with a critical gaze and sensuous poetic language.
Invincible stillness is most likely
the king who rules the empty lot.
The empty lot may look as if it held nothing
but it is always filled with something.
A wind that sleeps, a wind that busies about,
sometimes a wind
that hurls flower seeds wrapped within dandelion stars
and makes flowers bloom in the empty lot.
The empty lot maintains silence
whether the flowers bloom or wither,
simply providing the earth to grow
and watching absent-mindedly their cycle.
If a passing lizard
or a flitting bird should leave its marks
on the empty lot
they will not last long.
The empty lot will rub out their prints
when raindrops fall from the sky and move the dirt about.
Invincible stillness that leaves no trace
is most likely the king who rules the empty lot.
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