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Two Poems by Oh Eun scrap

by Oh Eungo link March 7, 2025

Two Poems by Oh Eun 이미지

Author Bio 작가 소개

오은

Oh Eun

Oh Eun began his poetic career in the pages of Modern Poetry in 2002. His work includes the poetry collections The Pigs at Hotel Tassel, We Love Ambience, Something from Something, the young adult poetry collection Matters of the Heart, and the essay collections You, I, and Yellow, Patting, and Wearing Green. He has won the Park In-hwan Literary Award, Gu Sang Poetry Award, Modern Poetry Award, and Daesan Literary Award and belongs to the poetry collective Jangnan (作亂).

A Growing Story

 

A friend told me their story

A story about going abroad

A story about throwing a party

At a house they built in the middle of nowhere

 

A story of having left and stayed

 

About a person you kind of know

And a person you don’t know at all

Getting to know each other

And becoming one another’s one and only

 

A story about throwing a party once a month

A story about helping people meet people

About one person and another falling in love

And love not leaving

 

About love

Staying with people

 

A story about being loved for laughing well

About a person crying, while their handwarmers

Are heating up in their pocket

 

A story that warms you up before you know it

 

A story about the chandelier

Showering the house with rainbows

Each and every day

About the fresh feeling just after a rain

A big, or small, or just

Anything-at-all success story

 

A story growing up

With each imagining

A story of growing up

 

A story of growing up to be myself

A story of being myself despite growing up

 

 

 

Happy Ending

 

        My friend likes dramas. The main character’s dreams come true. The misunderstandings get sorted out and the conflict gets resolved. It feels like tomorrow can only bring better things. Basically, the ending is always happy.

        I’m not a big fan of dramas. My friend’s eyes widen. How could I say such a thing? Who doesn’t like dramas? My friend turns the moment into a scene straight out of a drama.

 

        An invisible net stretches between the desks.

        I’ve got to hit the ball back over.

 

        Everything comes together so easy in the end. Think about all the things that never get resolved in real life. Like me, right now. I’ve got so much to worry about, and none of it ever gets fixed. I just pile on more things every day.

        And in a drama, everything revolves around the main character. I don’t like that either. My life’s main character is me, but a drama’s main character isn’t me. I’ve never been the main character, not even once.

 

        Me too,

        My friend says right away.

        A volley well returned.

 

        I want to be happy in the middle too. Once in the morning, once at lunchtime, and twice in the evening. Whether thinking about yesterday, or living today, or waiting for tomorrow, I want a tingle of excitement. Even in the spring and fall as they get shorter. Even in the summer and winter as they get longer.

 

        From the other side of the net

        My friend leans in to speak.

 

        We don’t need a happy end, we need a happy and.

 

        If only for a moment

        As we volley the ball back and forth

        We are the main characters.

 

Translated by Seth Chandler

Writer 필자 소개

Oh Eun

Oh Eun

Oh Eun began his poetic career in the pages of Modern Poetry in 2002. His work includes the poetry collections The Pigs at Hotel Tassel, We Love Ambience, Something from Something, the young adult poetry collection Matters of the Heart, and the essay collections You, I, and Yellow, Patting, and Wearing Green. He has won the Park In-hwan Literary Award, Gu Sang Poetry Award, Modern Poetry Award, and Daesan Literary Award and belongs to the poetry collective Jangnan (作亂).

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