Poems of Lee Hyo (South Korea)

Poet Lee Hyo first entered the literary world through Sinmunye in 2021, and continued her active literary career by debuting again through Minerva in 2025. In recognition of her literary achievements and artistic excellence, she has received numerous honors, including the 5th Asia-Pacific Literary Award, the Prize of the 1st Seoul Citizens Literary Award, the Prize of the 24th Hwang Jini Literary Award, and the Prize of the 1st Dante Literary Award. In 2026, she was also honored with the Chairperson’s Award of the Seoul Metropolitan Council. Currently, Lee Hyo serves as a Standing Director of the Dante Writers Association, Vice President of the Insadong Poets Association, and a Selection Committee Member for the literary webzine Munye Maru. She is also an active member of the Korean Writers’ Association and PEN Korea. In addition, she works as a writing instructor at the Gangdong-gu Haegong Senior Welfare Center, where she contributes to literary education and the promotion of creative writing.

Her published poetry collections include Your Breath Once, Roses Are Cats, and The Equation of Emotions.

The Persimmon Tree and My Mother

Lee Hyo 

Together, we planted a tiny persimmon sapling, 

no thicker than a finger.

Side by side, we dug into the stony soil

until our fingertips wore thin.

The wind carried us sunshine,

and our family pushed each dawn forward.

Today, I should be picking its fruit,

but you have departed

with the autumn to a distant place.

A single persimmon waits on a plate upon the table,

yet my lips refuse it.

All your life, Mother, you wrote and taught

God's love and devotion upon the earth

with your whole being for your children.

My eyes, shimmering with tears, have become autumn-red persimmons.

RED

Lee Hyo 

Even when the male flower does not open its lips,

it is the season when my body bursts open first.

To receive you as you draw near, a flower that has emptied itself—

fragrance is only an excuse.

Let me soak into you in my own way,

with a handful of wind.

I set the shadow of the male flower ablaze.

The moment flowers burst into full bloom across my body,

I will be the first to rub against insomnia.

Fragrance shall never confine me within a frame.

For I missed you every time I looked,

the quiet swell of this body resounds

when I touch the naked body of moonlight.

Is it desire, or is it fate?

When love begins, it is not the coming of spring, 

but the birth of fire.

I will willingly stand within its heart,

like the wind that breathes upon love and makes it burn.

THE CAMELLIA TURNS WHITE

Lee Hyo 

Snow that fell throughout the night rests like soft down.

and there comes a moment when red

turns into gentle feathers.

A longing seeps inward,

while the petals tremble in a daze.

The pain of ecstasy

always rises from the very tips of the roots

one corner of my heart remembers it with its whole being—

sometimes cold, sometimes gentle.

Even the colors of love and hate melt away,

and the landscape within the season quietly dissolves into silence.

When the trembling of the lips deepens,

the living heart becomes more vivid.

Before the final hunger of love, fluttering away,

you enfold me with your entire body

And when time flows at an ominous temperature,

with a sudden tap—one sorrow turns white.