Silent sky
By Min Kim
말없는 하늘
김 민
생각에 가득 차인 하늘은 먼지가 자욱하게 뜬
가을길 위로 구부러진 활처럼 섰다
수많은 난민들은 허리에 보따리를 얹이고
밟혀버린 송충이처럼 것고있다
작은 소년은 젊은 어머니의 등에서 울고,
자갈길 위로 뇌가 흘러나온 젊은 어머니의
가슴안에 갓난 아기의 울음은 하늘을 찌른다
천둥같은 폭탄으로 피로물든 하늘은
찢어진 아품에 빠져 삶을 잃은이들의
통곡을 듣지 못한다.
찬란한 환상을 품고있는 고대의 시를 찻으러
나는 대서양을 건넜다
혼란스러운 비행장 출구에서 잘가라고
축복을 주신 신부님의 말씀 –
하나님 앞으로 가기 위해 사랑했던 약혼자를
떠났었다고
한밤중에 달아나던 발자국 소리들을
기억하는 돌길은
날개달린 마차를 끄는 이들, 아직도 하늘과
은밀한 관게를 논의하는 이들을 바라본다
나는 하늘에게 물었다.
피흘리던 날들을 기억하냐고,
그리고 뱀처럼 구부러진 길에
암흑하게 갈라진 틈을 들여다 보았다 -
성인들이 남겨놓은 음성을 찿기 위하여
Hovered over the dusty road -
the sky is full of thinking
Displaced thousands are
moving like injured caterpillar,
carrying bundles of precious things
on their backs
A boy crying on a young mother’s arms,
a baby crying on a young mother’s arms;
her brains spilled over the
gravel road
Bleeding sky slashed with thundering bombs
does not hear the wailings of the
lost because it is immersed
in its own thinking.
I flew over the Atlantic to go see the
ancient city whose stories have given me
visions of beauty
In mid-air, I heard a catholic priest say
that he had left his fiancé to walk toward
god - blessing us goodbye in the center of
chaotic exit
On land:
stone streets pushed up memories of
flight, winged charioteers still in business
of clandestine affairs with the sky
I asked the sky if it remembered bleeding
and looked into the dark crack in the
serpentine pavement to hear the sounds left
by the holy.
About the Writer
Min Kim
Min was born in Seoul, Korea. She grew up in the mountains of Gangwon Province immigrating to the States as a teenager. After studying painting in college, she came to NYC because she didn’t know how to drive. In efforts to hold onto herself in sea of people, she made art on clean white paper every day. This habit led to many exhibitions in the States, Europe and Asia. In search of a greater freedom, she began collaborating with architects and designers to make artwork for spaces different from white cubes. Today, she’s happy she can share her poetry with others. An adolescent wish she never thought would come true because she thought it would take her entire lifetime to know English well enough to read poems in this language, let alone write them. She’s also learning to drive.