Herons Play the Heron Game

Heron is jump-rope.

Heron is pit.

Heron is throat.

Heron is kidnapping.

A heron plays the heron game.

The tables are one.

The tables are two.

The tables are three.

The tables are placed in the woods.

Hand raised,

The woods depart.

The tables are none.

The heron alights on the table.

The table is walking around as the herondives onto it.

The table collapses.

The woods depart.

The herons are one.

The herons are two.

The herons are three.

The herons are none.

The herons play the heron game in thewoods.

Teeth Dance

Whenever he got home, his teeth fell out. He put the teeth in a cup in the bathroom and smiled a toothless smile in themirror. Every morning, he put his teeth back in place one by one beforeleaving.

One night, after he came home from an exhausting day, he was awoken from his sleep by a strange sound coming from thebathroom. When he went to see what it was, the teeth were out of their cup andclick-clacking against each other in a big dance. “That looks fun! Can I join?” he asked, and one tooth replied, “Come on in!” When he danced, the teeth all went right back into the cup.

He went around with a backpack full of items for sale. He worked very hard, but few people wanted any of his items, and the backpack was as heavy at night as in the morning.

When he died, his backpack and the items inside ended up all over the place, but the teeth in the bathroom were buried with him. Every night, he danced with the teeth.

The Left Rain Falls, the Right Rain Doesn’t

When I walk with your hand in mine,

The left rain falls, the right rain doesn’t

We always have too many hands,

I suddenly remember the moment my hand was divided into two.

The moment the invisible scissors fell.

Awakening footsteps

What’s inside our footsteps?

What’s standing against our footsteps?

We always have too many rains,

The left rain falls, the right rain doesn’t.

When I walk with your hand in mine,

Our bodies leave us.

Our bodies, watching us.

Our buttons, fallen off and wandering from us.

Into the buttons’ many

Buttonholes

The left rain falls, the right raindoesn’t.

Always Too Much Rain
(Moonji, 2011)

Tree’s Rotation

Like a captive stone

I had no opinion.

The tree curves and bends.

This is a part of its rotation

But the arc it traces,

Long on a trajectory of desertion,

Does not return.

Like a captive eraser

Rubbing away the coiled voice,

The body closes down,

A lump scattered all over the place, alump I push forward and put into action.

One day, I was one with mystone-throwing.

I was within the stones I threw.

Always Too Much Rain
(Moonji, 2011)

Ediya Coffee

Who knows what time it was. From here on

I’ll have to walk, but

The road is a mess. I turned my head.

A man in a white shirt, out  in front of Ediya Coffee, Do you hear me? Do you hear what I’m saying?

He was shouting into his phone.

His face was a contorted mess.

I could hear him, I could hear him saying, You messed with the wrong guy.

I’ll have to walk from here, but the bugs

Made a mess of the street lights.

A drunk old woman was sitting on the ground,

Telling someone to bring more alcohol.

It’s true, she said.

Hurry up and get over here, she said.

Looks like no more walking for today, I whistled.

I’ll have to walk from here, but

Who knows what time it was. It’s not true, the woman said again. Everyone bounced out of

Death

Once more

And started pummeling death with whatever they could find.

The bundles I spent all night packing are a mess

Scattered scraps of cloth wandering about, what a mess, I sighed

And started neatly folding the shirts that were left.

Distribution Warehouse
(Moonji, 2018)

City Gas

We took a walk through the rotten public square

Rotten leaves, rotten apples rolling about

I don’t know how to play games. You have to learn how to tap the screen, you say. I have to learn. How to tap and keep tapping, how to do the new attack. Okay, I’m ready.

Take off the gloves, the white gloves, put them away, put those hands away. I have to learn.

A person lays newspaper on the ground and lies down. Lies under the newspaper. A few pages tumble away, rolling over around manhole cover.

The manhole cover reads City Gas. No one ever opens it.

There is gas. Gas is available to us. Gas has no color, no smell, no weight. Gas makes no sound, it’s invisible. But gas is soft, and gas is mild, and gas flows to us subtly and gently, and gas caresses us, and our thoughts are filled with gas. The city gas supply expanded nationwide. So

There’s no need for walks. There’s no point in watching the sun set on our walk. The sun sinks before we can even say goodbye.

The end of the square is already visible. We follow the path leading straight to the end, the straight path. In the rotten square, You stand, a lackadaisical song flows from my lips.

You raise your straight forehead and say, Okay, please just stop. Stop tapping the screen. Stopusing your rotten fingers. I don’t use them. I don’t learn the new game.

City Gas
(Moonji, 2022)

What’s Reflected in the Window

I look at the window. At what’s reflected in the window

If this is all someone’s thought, then I am detained within someone’s thought without even knowing what it is.

If I am someone’s thought, I materialize their thought. I cannot open their thought and get out.

For a moment,

I have penetrated their dream.

I stop them.

The curtain is cast away. I am surprised by how close I am. I try to change their thought, but at the same time I am locking their thought away. With my every move

What’s reflected in the window

Right now, someone’s thoughts are being torn to pieces.

Always Too Much Rain
(Moonji, 2011)

Broken Stairs

I walk up the stairs.

Broken stairs

With each step I take

The stairs disappear.

Two people are fighting.

Throwing stairs at each other

Everyone is fighting.

One person breaks another’s arm

And tosses it far away.

The far-flung arm

Returns

And climbs the stairs.

I keep tumbling

Down the stairs

Toward myself.

I climb the stairs,

But the stairs are not visible.

I sit at the guillotine,

But I already have no head.

The Curve of the Red Brick Wall
(Minumsa, 2001)

Dissection

No eyes,

Only blood.

Blood opens its eyes.

Light steps into the dark

Dark steps into the light

No mouth,

No scream disappearing into the mouth,

Only blood.

Blood opens its mouth.

No home

The windows all fly away at once,

Taking the house with them.

The light within light

The dark within dark

No you,

Only the blood

That designs you.

I wipe away the blood.

There is no blood, and

I am drenched in blood.

A Cat Watching a Video of a Cat
(Moonji, 2004)

Apple Tree

I eat an apple every morning. Apple piles up in my body. Once I’m completely full of apples, the apples finally die. When the apples die, I look at the apple tree. The apple tree is beautiful.

Sometimes something else happens. The apples I eat flee from me. Apples shining and fragrant like the sun, the sun of today which murdered yesterday. The apples set the apple tree ablaze. The apple tree is beautiful.

Herons Play the Heron Game
(Segyesa, 1998)

All poems translated by Seth Chandler

Korean Works Mentioned:

• Herons Play the Heron Game (Segyesa, 1998)

  『왜가리는 왜가리 놀이를 한다』 (세계사, 1998)

• A Cat Watching a Video of a Cat (Moonji, 2004)

  『고양이 비디오를 보는 고양이』 (문학과지성사, 2004)

• Always Too Much Rain (Moonji, 2011)

  『언제나 너무 많은 비들』 (문학과지성사, 2011)

• Distribution Warehouse (Moonji, 2018)

  『물류창고』 (문학과지성사, 2018)

• City Gas (Moonji, 2022)

  『도시 가스』 (문학과지성사, 2022)

• The Curve of the Red Brick Wall (Minumsa, 2001)

   『붉은 담장의 커브』 (민음사, 2001)