Lee, Hye Seon (poems)
Moderator 
Poetess Dr. Lee, Hye Seon
Poetess Dr. Lee, Hye Seon graduated from the Korean language and literature department of Dongguk University and obtained a doctor of literature degree from Sejong University. She has taught at several universities including Dongguk University. She made her debut in 1981 through the monthly literature Magazine Simunhak. She writes poetry and literary criticism. She has won Korea Free Literature Prize, Modern Poet Prize, Dongguk Literary Prize, Korea Literary Critics Association Prize (in criticism).
She has published 7 books of poetry including, One God and 3 collections of criticism including Metamorphosis of Literature and Dream and Famous Poems Promenade by Lee Hye Seon.
She won several literature prizes.
Her early literary trend was based on the sense of history. Rooted in Korea’s traditional emotions and the Buddhist spirit, her poetry demonstrates a strong sense of identity formed by the meeting of temporality and the sense of collective national awareness. Her more recent poetry celebrates cosmic perceptions and an awareness of the transcendental world, undifferentiated sympathy for universal existences including close neighbors, and a world of beautiful rainbows emanating from self-reflections
KOI LAW
A koi fish is a type of ornamental fish
when kept in a fish tank,
grows only 8 centimeters.
But if released into a stream,
it can grow indefinitely-
just like your dream tree.
BIRDSONG DELIVERY
A junior colleague from Gurye sent a package.
"I couldn't even pick the cherries, plums, and butterbur stems inside the fence. The beans burst from their pods in the field, and we only harvested the sweet potatoes from two rows after the first frost. A few persimmons were left as magpie feed, chestnuts became food for the mice, and the jujubes and cornelian cherries were taken by the birds. That's why my vegetable garden is always filled with the sound of chirping birds. “
Inside the box was a frost-bitten yellow pumpkin and some jujubes. A dozen sweet potatoes and bright orange persimmons seemed to carry the vegetable garden and persimmon tree with them. Amid her hurried footsteps, next spring's cornelian cherries flowers were hastily opening the pale-yellow sky.
From the empty box, the clear sound of bird chirping bubbled out, followed by Jirisan Mountain stepping out in large strides.
IN THE FOREST VILLAGE
In the forest, trees gather together and live.
Under the big trees, small trees.
Under the small trees, charming little wildflowers.
Sprouting and stretching their stems, living together in harmony.
In the forest, trees gather together and live.
Big trees hold the hands of small trees.
Small trees lift the seated wildflowers.
Blooming and smiling, living together in harmony.
As soon as you enter the forest, the sunlight smiles.
The stream exposes its lower body and laughs too.
In the forest, laughter blooms each season.
In the forest, even tears bloom into flowers.
A PAIR OF YELLOW SANDALS*
Rena is a ten-year-old girl living in the refugee camp.
When the truck comes from the relief center,
The adults scramble to get better clothes.
Caught among the extending arms and the muscular arms,
Rena luckily fishes a pair of yellow sandals.
Rena's foot, torn and bruised-Rena who has lived barefoot-
Carries a yellow sandal with a blue flower-
A yellow sunflower that blooms over her breast.
At the primary school, bombarded and burnt up,
Where the used to study sprawling over straw-mats on the clay
floor,
A smiling Rena extends her hands,
Holding a skim milk can and
Wearing a sandal, calling "Sister, let me go with you."
*from Caren Lynn Williams A Pair of Yellow Sandals.
NON-DUAL: IT SPREADS
I broke off a thin twig
While climbing up a narrow mountain path.
The moment it snapped, an eyeball,
Sprouting green, screams
Through the crack in the earth.
The trees in the whole mountain
Twist their bodies in pain.
The green rain water from the cosmos’ heart
Rapidly spreads.
I sit down,
Clutching my bosom despite myself.
Translator: Ko, Chang Soo
NON-DUAL: NEW SPROUTS WITHIN YOU
While cutting the radish
My mishandled kitchen knife
Sank deep into my palm,
Exposing white bones;
Bleeding didn’t stop.
My hand swelled,
So did my mind.
Days without eyes, nose or ears
Continued perennially.
One day, from inside the closed widow,
The wound, now healed, found its own place.
After that incident,
(Though my bosom was riddled with holes;
No matter how much blood was shed.)
I don’t wait for flowery wind
From outside, or eyebeams from afar.
Becoming a fisherman stitching the fishing net with tight meshes,
I let fall a water bucket
Towards the blue depths of the sea within me.
Regulating my breathing
Till a soft green sprout and a flower of joy rise,
I haul up the water bucket calmly.
Translator: Ko, Chang Soo
