2 poems by Han Kang who won the Nobel Prize in Literature today
intimate voices to close confidantes, not shying away from darkness
Copyright 1970, Han Kang, from her website
Seoul Winter
(translated from the Korean by Geul)
Someday when someday comes and that someday you come
if on that someday you come as love
my heart would be suffused with shimmering water-light, your love
submerged in my heart
could hardly breathe,
I’ll be your respiration, on your ink-black lips
I’ll be your labored breath, if you come, my love,
if you could but come;
on my iced-over cheeks
I’ll let you hear the river-sound
that you love so
Excerpt from Winter in a Mirror
Translated from Korean by Sophie Bowman
My eyes are two candle stubs sliding drips of wax as they consume the wick, it is not searing nor painful, they say that the quivering of the bluish flame core is the coming of souls, souls sit on my eyes and quiver, they hum, the outer flame swaying in the distance sways to get further off, tomorrow you leave for the furthest city, here I am ablaze, now you put your hands into the tomb of the void and wait, memory bites your fingers like a snake, you are not seared nor in pain, your unflinching face does not burn or shatter
from Modern Poetry in Translation, published in The Blue Vein, 2016 Number 3
Creative Invitation
Try writing to someone you love without using any periods or punctuation besides the trusty comma.
The comma which tells us all things are connected, and can aggregate them infinitely, like a lifelong conversation.