Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Kyoto, September, 2005  Photo: Sukie Park

BAMBOO FOREST

Sang Hee Kwak

When I stand alone with bamboo,
I can hardly remember the difference between chattering and silence.
The silence of the bamboo forest as it’s about to burst makes me,
like a baby, wail at its blue deep sea silence.
Its tangled roots raise tiny wings, here and there.
My mind begins to fly, swinging with the wind
artfully into the depths of the waters.
It’s just then I can hear the sound
of the blue sky roaring out of  the bamboo.

곽상희

1980년 '현대문학'지로 시등단, 시집 '바다 건너 목관악' '끝나지 않은 하루' 등  6권, 수필 3권, 소설 장, 중, 단편, 영문소설 'Two Faces' 출간. 올림포에트리 시인(스페인), UPLI 계관시인으로 선정, 제 1회 박남수 문학상, 제 1회 미주시의회 대상 등 수상, 시 창작 클리닉 (1984-)을 운영하며 강의하고 있다.

Sang-Hee Kwak

She has published seven volumes of poetry, three essay collections, and two novels in Korean; another novel, Two Faces, is forthcoming in English. She has also been published in several anthologies, including International Women Poets (1994).  She has received many awards, among which are  Olympoetry Poet (1994, in Spain), and Poet Laureate (UPLI, 2007). She currently conducts an English and Korean Writing Clinic (KALA, 1984-) and serves as Director of UPLI Korea Affairs and as a Member of the Board of Movement One.