While soaking myself in the bathtub, the lights go out
It is raining outside
A rusty sadness emerges
A terrified child runs down the dark corridor
Anybody out there?
My voice, echoing in the empty bathroom, floats long in the air and stops
The heart runs ceaselessly to carry blood higher than itself
Gravity pulls down blood
The heart sending blood to flow back and forth with a force stronger than gravity
What does the blood flowing to the toes think on the way back?
I look at my toes like coastlines
At our death, do the heart and soul stop at the same time?
The brain will shout for blood
The lungs, lacking oxygen, gradually lying down
The blood, its driving force fading away, hesitating in its circulation when the heart stops
Neither going forward nor backward
Like parched lips at a loss for what to say
Will my soul, then, stop somewhere in my body?
No one could help but to feel anxious when water rises higher than the heart
When walking into deep water
One unconsciously raises one’s hands above the head
Something that cannot break has broken, something that must not sink has sunk
The faces in the dream flew down like dough
Obscure and dirty like scribbles not fully erased
The dream someone crumpled up
The dream someone trampled on
Some memories are imprinted in the heart
Spreading all over the body through blood vessels, whenever the heart beats
I cried in the water because I was scared and lonely
Lonely because I was scared
Scared because I was lonely
The cat is scratching the bathroom door with its front paws
The power returns again, lights turn on
The blurred ceiling, waterdrops hanging on it, comes into sight
The steam thickly rises between darkness and light
Losing each other bit by bit
Taking from each other bit by bit
A leaden heart presses down on the entire body
- 2018 Today’s Poetry Award-winner
Shin Cheolgyu was born in Geochang, Kyungsangnamdo Province. He made his literary debut by winning the 2011 Chosun Ilbo Annual Spring Literary Contest. He has published the poetry collection Said to be Sad as the Earth. He has earned prizes including the Shindongyup Literature Award, and the 2018 Today’s Poetry Award.
Translated by Kim Kooseul / Darcy Paquet
* 《Cultura》 2021 December (Vol. 90) *
