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RA HEE-DUK WEARING PINK SHOES I gave myself to the music; my feet slid away and I began to cast off time. Thread unraveling within me slid sul-sul-sul-sul across the threshold. Feet danced past the bakery, past the laundry, past the park, past the local tong office, past your table and bed, past the graves and the grassy fields. They did not return. What now? “Keep dancing!” the world cried. Though my legs be threatened with amputation, I can still give myself completely to the music. Remember I’m wearing my snug pink shoes. Do you hear the melody in my blood? Do you hear the water crossing the embankment? I’m at liberty to go where I please, but I go nowhere. The sun does not set here no matter how I dance. The bobbin within unravels, endlessly, like water flowing over the embankment. Threads tangle, roads tangle. Axe raised, the city rushes at me, trying to capture me, but I cannot stop dancing because of pink shoes I put on so long ago, somnolent for far too long. To read these poems online please go to www.banipal.co.uk/selections Ra Hee-duk was born in 1966. She made her literary debut in 1989 when she was named winner of the annual spring literary contest sponsored by the The joongang Ilbo. Her poetry collections include “To the Root, It Is Not Far Away” and “The Vanished Palm”. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Kim Su-yeong Literature Prize. She teaches creative writing at Chosun University. 176 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
page 179
JEON SEONG-TAE The Korean Soldier TRANSLATED BY TJAE WON CHUNG he apartment looked neat and tidy. It had been built two years ago as a condominium. It had a living room that doubled as a bedroom, a kitchen, a washroom that was separate from the bathroom, each with its own compartment. In the washroom lay a large tub, long enough to stretch out one’s legs. When Bat and his wife opened the apartment door, the afternoon sun was blinding as it poured in through the south window despite the white curtains draped across it.The light that had shone through the curtains was spread all over the floor like fine golden powder. Below the window there was a steam heater, and the air was comfortably warm and smelled faintly of heated metal. Around the edges of the room were a khaki-coloured sofa bed, a TV and an old glass table with a phone on top of it.The style of furniture was a little severe, making the place feel like somebody’s office, but Chang-dae thought this would do just fine. He was particularly fond of the high ceilings. They looked to be about a foot higher than the ceiling in his apartment in Korea, and they seemed to make the space appear even more expansive. He could smoke cigarettes all he wanted in this room, and the smoke probably wouldn’t bother his eyes. He was reminded of being forced to step out to the terrace to smoke in his apartment back home. “The apartment is in typical Russian-style,” Dolma said as she pulled the curtains aside. Dolma was Bat’s wife. Her words touched Chang-dae deeply evoking something not unlike nostalgia. “Russian style” meant northern style, and he had never been this far north in his entire life. He would have to think of a name for this room.The Siberian Room.That would do.This was far south of Siberia and the land wasn’t even part of Russia, but he felt, all of sudden, a sense of BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 177

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RA HEE-DUK

WEARING PINK SHOES

I gave myself to the music; my feet slid away and I began to cast off time. Thread unraveling within me slid sul-sul-sul-sul across the threshold. Feet danced past the bakery, past the laundry, past the park, past the local tong office, past your table and bed, past the graves and the grassy fields. They did not return. What now? “Keep dancing!” the world cried. Though my legs be threatened with amputation, I can still give myself completely to the music. Remember I’m wearing my snug pink shoes. Do you hear the melody in my blood? Do you hear the water crossing the embankment? I’m at liberty to go where I please, but I go nowhere. The sun does not set here no matter how I dance. The bobbin within unravels, endlessly, like water flowing over the embankment. Threads tangle, roads tangle. Axe raised, the city rushes at me, trying to capture me, but I cannot stop dancing because of pink shoes I put on so long ago, somnolent for far too long.

To read these poems online please go to www.banipal.co.uk/selections

Ra Hee-duk was born in 1966. She made her literary debut in 1989 when she was named winner of the annual spring literary contest sponsored by the The joongang Ilbo. Her poetry collections include “To the Root, It Is Not Far Away” and “The Vanished Palm”. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Kim Su-yeong Literature Prize. She teaches creative writing at Chosun University.

176 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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