Poems of Kang yeong eun (South Korea)

The Host
Kang yeong eun 
 
When you call this bread is existence.
Because of this to a falling-out with the yeast cells clog and close a cut. A Because of this, I tame mallang mallangha.High With a soft face.
 
Blood, Yeonhapa Like wine gets hot inside me.
 
​ Any defect is a huge diamond. Scratch Have lofty feelings that cut. Number Or chuka Pain Window Ha The persimmon.Jung of the existence of just a stone's throw away reveals.
 
​ The bread is like flour for existence prior to a *.This person because of this that can not be removed from bones.  The table of wheat fields.
 
My Hunger is a On a wheat field Be a flock of birds to fly off. The organizations that fly in the sky in the sky.Willingness Che will be
 
If this is being limited to, flour. On a tray. A glass of wine and a slice of bread is. Ceremony Tak This table We have probably only for dinner one meal.
 
Drawing on the tray of fish. I don't know why you are full and eat one's knuckles and blue. Ha Is all the time The Shemiramoth,
 
A chunk of space, is only water and air. A piece of sacred pieces of bread honorable’is mixed. ​
 
​My God there is ।because of this
​
* ereulleu pongti <symbols in >
 
 
 
Romance with the Evening
Kang young eun 
Translation by Ko Chang-soo

In the evening’s expression,
An emotion with a differing color of blood blooms and fades.
Like jasmine that shifts the color towards violet, soft violet, white,
In those moments the evening takes on an expression that most resembles solitude.
Thus I forget for a moment that my limbs have become awkward,
And my ears, neck, mouth and nose have bloomed.
 
Though several people walk together, the evening touches one eyeball.
Like a corridor that gets increasingly calm each time light deflects,
In those moments the evening becomes a lover;
I become friendly with death like a child roaming in a maze.
And I witness the alleys lengthen out gradually.
 
While waiting for a call-taxi before a florist where pollen scatters,
I think of you
Like a memo paper that will be forgotten tomorrow,
Like the slight fever of bored time.
In those moments the evening is lost in a love affair.
So I, blooming under an old window-frame,
Become unfamiliar.
 
On some evenings I’m absent;
So, if the landscape has disappeared into my inside,
I’m absent, that is, in the place left behind by the evening.
In those moments, the evening, not knowing it is evening,
Seeps into the window.
The consolation of being alone suddenly comes in hundreds of faces
In that very moment.
 
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About the Poetess:
Poet Kang Young-eun was born on Jeju Island and earned a Master's degree in Literature from the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Kookje University. She made her literary debut in 2000 through the quarterly literary magazine Minerva. Since then, she has published the poetry collections The Green Silk Python, Floating Reef, the Back of the Sea, Mago's Jar, A Gentle Poetics, The Bird Beyond, and Longing Gravity. She has also published the selected poems Poems Dedicated to the Japanese Nutmeg Yew, the essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, the collaborative travel poetry collections The Crescent Moon of Tibet, Mingalaba, Myanmar, and Nazar Boncu, as well as the anthology of poems in English, Faces of the Festival, featuring twelve poets.
Kang Young-eun's poetic world is deeply rooted in the landscape of Jeju, where the vitality of nature, the sense of loss, and the solitude of writing converge. She has described writing poetry as "the loneliest and freest way to embrace time and space," revealing an attitude that accepts even her own transience and futility as an inevitable part of existence. Her essay collection Letters from the Mountain Hydrangea, which combines poetry, photography, and reflective prose, demonstrates how her creative practice extends beyond lyrical poetry into visual imagery and contemplative essays. By interweaving images of nature with profound inner sorrow, she has developed a distinctive poetic voice that has been consistently recognized across multiple collections rather than at a single moment in her career.
Her honors include the Excellence Award of the Siyesul Poetry Prize (2006), the Korean Poetry Literature Award (2012), the Arts Council Korea (ARKO) Literary Creation Grant (2014), selection as a Sejong Outstanding Book (2015), the Writers Association of Korea Author Award (2016), the Literary Youth Award and recognition as an Outstanding Content publication by the Korea Publication Industry Promotion Agency (2018), the Seogwipo Literary Award (2023), and selection for the Literature Sharing Program (2024).
She previously served as an instructor of creative writing at the Lifelong Education Center of Seoul National University of Science and Technology and as Chair of the Organizing Committee for the Seogwipo Chilsimni Literary Award. She currently serves as a Board Member of the Korean Poets' Association and an Editorial Board Member of Literary Youth.