Kim Myong-sun
Translation by Don Mee Choi
Korea, I cut my final tie with you
If I fall over into a ditch
or spill blood in the fields
go ahead, kick my dead body
If that is not enough
later when someone like me is born again
abuse her as much as you can
Then we’ll part forever
hating each other
This vicious place! Vicious place!
Don Mee Choi was born in S. Korea and came to the U.S. as a student in
1981. She studied art at the California Institute of the Arts. Her
poems have appeared in The Asian Pacific American Journal, Hawaii
Pacific Review, disorient journalzine, and Gargoyle. She lives in
Seattle and translates poetry of several contemporary Korean women
poets. Her translations will appear this year in the fall issues of
Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture and Luna.
Kim Myong-sun (1896-1951). She was a pioneer poet/writer of modern
Korea. Her story, “Suspicious Girl,” is considered to be the first
modern story published by a Korean woman. She was also the first
woman poet/writer to question traditional Korean womne’s roles in her
works.
