Sham-seeming life
gauze-mask-like thoughts
is there no removing the mask from consciouness?
Disposing words without meaning
Writing poems without meaning
Writing poems like scraps of debris
scraps of shattering consciousness
Translation of " Eumi eopneun sireul sseunda. " By arrangement with the author. Translation copyright 2011 by Brother Anthony of Taizé. All rights reserved.
가짜 같은 삶
마스크 같은 생각
의식의 탈을 벗을 수 없을까
의미 없는낱말을 나열한다
의미 없는 시를 쓴다
파편 같은 시를 쓴다
깨어지는 의식의 조각들
Ynhui ParkYnhui Park
Born in Korea in 1930, Ynhui Park (Pak In-Hŭi) spent many years studying and teaching abroad. After receiving a doctorate in French literature from the Sorbonne, in Paris, in 1964, he went on to take a second doctorate, in philosophy, at the University of Southern California (USA) in 1970. From 1968 he taught in Boston, until his retirement in 1993. Then he returned to Korea and for several years taught philosophy at Pohang University of Science and Technology. From 2002 he taught philosophy as a Distinguished Professor in Yonsei University, Seoul, for some years. He publishes in English as Ynhui Park, that being his original given name, but his writings in Korean are published using the pen name Park Yeemun (Pak I-Mun).
He continues to publish widely, mainly in Korean now, but he has published several books and papers on philosophical topics in both French and English. He has published a number of volumes of poetry in Korean: the translated titles are Snow on the Charles River (1979), Dream of a Butterfly (1981), Shadows of Things Unseen (1987), Echoes of the Void (1989) and Morning Stroll (2006). This last earned him the 2006 Incheon Award. In 1999 he published a volume of poems written in English, Broken Words, which was translated into German and published as Verbrochene Wörter in 2004. The poems translated here were published in Korea as a volume of selected poems in 2006.
Translated from KoreanKorean by Brother Anthony of TaizéBrother Anthony of Taizé
Brother Anthony of Taizé has lived in Korea since 1980. He is emeritus professor at Sogang University and professor at Dankook University. He has so far published some twenty-five volumes of translations of Korean poetry and fiction, including seven of work by Ko Un. His most recent translation is Walking on the Washing Line: Poems of Kim Seung-Hee.
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