Flatfish

An emerging voice in South Korean literature, MOON TAE-JUN has published a number of poetry collections in Korean (Crowded Backyard, Barefeet, A Shadow’s Development, and more). In poems that range from short, broken lines to longer prose-like forms, Moon Tae-jun evokes a sense of longing, as if searching for moments in the past that help inform the present. BRANDON JOSEPH PARK is a lecturer in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Rutgers University - New Brunswick, and in the Writing Program at Rutgers University - Newark. He is the co-translator of You Call That Music?!: Korean Popular Music Through the Generations.

"From a wild persimmon tree next to a tin-roofed house to a waning crescent moon being filled like well water, Flatfish transports us into an irresistible world. Park's translation captures a shifting landscape and the poetic voice that asks and answers the question, where will we go from here?" - Su Cho (author of The Symmetry of Fish) "In these illuminating translations, Moon's vision penetrates human and nonhuman nature alike, simultaneously. In poem after poem, as the distinctions typically required to organize and navigate our world fall away, a singular, wildly fresh experience of being opens, as if our individual skins were not skin, but humanity's collective eyelid." - Ed Bok Lee (American Book Award–winning author of Whorled and Mitochondrial Night)

• ContentsForeword: Slow, quiet, and flat: Moon Tae-jun’s anti-speed lyric by Jae Won Edward ChungTranslator’s NoteWords from the PoetPart ILongingWater LilyFloorSomeone Cries and GoesBack like a RascalOld MotherHorizontal The OutsideDestitutionDestitution 2Bugs, Poems, & Co.FrostOne Evening SackFadingAbout that TimeThe Stone’s StomachPart IIPathFlatfishFlatfish 2Flatfish 3Nursing DogStars Sprout in the Winter SkySchoolSpread, Disease, Spread!Oh My God! Looking at SmallMums Singing of the Tree Standing DeadWhat to do, What to doMetaphor of the VineThicketOne Sad SpringThe BottomPart IIIThe Smell of Rice I MissDreamMysterious Flower VaseThe Noodle Shop with a Wooden DeckAllegory of the Day MoonThe Marking Does Not Last LongThe Gingko Tree Behind Unmun TempleSurprised by the ColorThe Flower BloomsI Walk A Long WhileOne Meadow BuntingAt the Sound of Mountain RainEmpty ChairReservoir The Crow and the DogThere is No CypressIn OctoberWhen I Turn AwayPart IVThe Wild Goose Laughs Small BirdThe Promise of an Empty HouseAh, Twenty-Four DaysOh, Thorn Lantern!Like My Mother’s Family Home, Visited AgainThe One Cicada into the Persimmon TreeA Day, Here, like the Autumn RiverAnother Door Outside the DoorBirthing of the Plum Blossom Jade CicadaWooden BlockWinter NightMolding ClayGo into the KsanaThe Wind, To Me Original Korean Text:제1부思慕수련 마루 누가 울고 간다나는 돌아가 惡童처럼老母水平바깥극빈극빈 2벌레詩社서리 어느 저녁에 자루묽다그맘때에는돌의 배제2부길가재미가재미2가재미3젖 물리는 개冬天에 별 돋고떼 번져라 번져라 病이여오오 이런!小菊을 두고강대나무를 노래함어떡하나요, 어떡하나요넝쿨의 비유 덤불슬픈 샘이 하나 있다 바닥제3부그리운 밥 냄새꿈이상한 花甁평상이 있는 국숫집낮달의 비유무늬는 오래 지닐 것이 못 되어요 운문사 뒤뜰 은행나무빛깔에 놀라다 꽃이 핀다나는 오래 걷는다한 마리 멧새산비 소리에빈 의자저수지까마귀와 개측백나무가 없다 시월에내가 돌아설 때제4부기러기가 웃는다작은 새빈집의 약속아, 24일오, 가시등불!언젠가 다시 가본 나의 외갓집 같은감나무 속으로 매미 한 마리가어느 날 내가 이곳에서 가을강처럼 門 바깥에 또 門이매화나무의 解産 옥매미木鐸겨울밤흙을 빚다찰라 속으로 들어가다바람이 나에게 AcknowledgementsNotes on Contributors