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