Επιμέλεια: Εύα Πετροπούλου Λιανού
Heading to the agit, wearing a muffler like a holiday
On days when the wind crumbles cold
A hunger circulates in my calves
Holding each other’s shoulders to make an aerial tunnel
Migratory birds flock to the agit that gives them flutters
A tunnel that feels like New York to some groups
Rolling the winter wind round and round, spinning along the same path
If you go up to the wide-open fourth floor, you can spin even more
On the street with migratory birds, small words whisper
A delightful clamor walks to and fro.
The black rabbit has not arrived yet, but
Hexagonal snowflakes, blowing hot breaths, ho-ho
Affectionately, Merry Christmas!
Beside the tree, rabbits in pink vests are pounding a mortar
Migratory birds driven back by the cold, walking and walking again
Cheerfully, Happy New Year!
At broad daylight when the sun rises, if fishes fly up, children clap hands
In the aquarium fountain, whales cheer
Resident birds who came out dragging their slippers walk backward
A perfect place to exercise on a holiday with a muffler wrapped around
Even if the directions we come and go are different, on a cold day,
let’s meet at Pangyo Kakao Agit
카카오 아지트 판교
연명지
휴일처럼 목도리를 두르고 아지트로 간다
바람이 차게 뭉그러지는 날이면
종아리에 시장기가 돈다
서로의 어깨를 잡고 공중 터널을 만들어
설렘을 주는 아지트로 철새들이 몰려든다
어떤 무리에게는 뉴욕 같기도 한 터널
겨울바람을 둥글게 말아 같은 길을 뱅글뱅글 돌고
뻥 뚫린 사층으로 올라가면 더 많이 돌 수 있다
철새들과의 거리에는 작은 말들이 소곤소곤
유쾌한 소란이 걸어가고, 걸어온다.
검은 토끼는 아직 도착하지 않았지만
육각형의 눈송이들 뜨거운 입김을 호호 불며
다정하게 메리 크리스마스!
트리 곁에서 분홍색 조끼를 입은 토끼들이 절구질을 한다
추위에 밀려 돌아온 철새들 걷고 또 걸으며
명랑하게 해피 뉴 이어!
해가 뜨는 한낮 물고들이 날아오르면 아이들은 박수를 보내고
수족관 속 분수에서 고래들이 환호한다
슬리퍼를 끌고 나온 텃새들은 거꾸로 걷는다
목도리를 두른 휴일에 운동하기 딱 좋은 곳
오가는 방향이 달라도 추운 날에는 판교 카카오아지트에서 만나요
The Escape of Sero by Yeon Myung-ji
On the Serengeti plains, Mama Lulu and Papa Garo graze,
Replaying in slow motion.
In the sunlit hunting grounds, Grant’s zebras are a tribe
Whose paths forever overlap.
To leave the herd and dwell alone—
A landscape hard to fathom.
Did he long to return to the wild of his roots, to graze?
Each day left behind,
A relentless chain of anxiety.
Where did Mama and Papa go, leaving him behind?
No matter how long he waited, they never came,
So, I must leap this fence and find them, he thought.
And Sero broke free.
The keepers, those sisters and brothers,
Are not his mother and father, after all.
In the city seen for the very first time,
Though he wandered this alley and that,
Nowhere was a patch of grass to be found.
An adolescent who just passed into youth,
Was this escape his ultimate choice?
Or a clumsy rebellion?
Losing consciousness to a tranquilizer gun, he returned,
Only to face the collapsed fence.
Have Mama Lulu and Papa Garo finally joined as one,
Deep in the wilds of Africa’s Serengeti?
세로의 가출
연명지
세렝게티 대초원에서 풀을 뜯는 루루 엄마와 가로 아빠가
느리게 재생되고 있어요
햇살 사냥터에서 그랜트 얼룩말은 겹치는 동선이 많은 종족이죠
무리를 떠나 홀로 지낸다는 것은 상상하기 어려운 풍경
고향인 야생으로 돌아가 풀을 뜯고 싶었을까요
혼자 남겨진 하루하루가 불안의 연속이지요
엄마 아빠는 그를 두고 어디로 갔을까요
아무리 기다려도 오지 않아
저 울타리를 넘어 찾으러 가야겠다고
세로는 가출을 했어요
사육사 누나와 형들은 엄마와 아빠가 아니잖아요
처음 본 도시에서
이 골목 저 골목 헤매고 다녀도 어디에도 풀밭은 없었어요
사춘기를 막 지난 청년기
가출은 그가 택한 최후의 선택일까요
어설픈 반항일까요
마취총에 정신을 잃고 돌아온 곳에는
쓰러진 울타리만 보여요
루루엄마와 가로아빠는 아프리카 세렝게티에 합사했을까요
Profile
Poet Yeon Myung-ji began her literary career in 2013 with the poetry collection 『Gashibi』, published in the Minerva Poetry Series.
Her published works include the poetry collections 『Sitting Like an Apple』 and 『Where would the House of the Sorry’ be? 』 the e-poetry collection 『Seventeen Marco Polos,』 and the travel essay 『Step by Step, Walking the Camino.』
She has received the Tolstoy Literary Award, the Homi Literary Award, the Cheongsong Gaekju Literary Award, and the Aviation Literary Award. In 2025, she was awarded the Bronze Prize in Poetry at the Literature Asia Awards.
Her poems have been translated and published in local languages in India, Pakistan, Kosovo, Italy, Egypt, the United States, and Belgium, Greece, UK, and Iraq.
