60) A Poet, an Approval, and an Archer*

       Wolran Kim

 

As words of a poet, who is not a real poet

But living with a poet’s heart

Not anyone can be a poet

 

Without any indication

Without any decent material

Without any brilliant background

Without any hesitation

As a result of cooking poetry

 

A poet must approve himself

Who admits his deficiency

Who admits his lies

Who admits his arrogance

Who admits his fault

 

If a poet aims at someone with an arrow

The body of a poet is the melting pot of wounds

That is the shape of the arrow

The poet thirsts for hitting the target always

 

A poet who knows how to approve

Will be an archer, who lodges arrows in the heart, not the skin

 

As a heart that draws a bowstring

In front of words that hit the poet’s heart first

Today, I have to stand as a target on blank paper

 

* A Poet, an approval, and an archer are the exact same words in Korean