GloPoWriMo: Day 5

Meniscus

Of course the skin of water

is smooth,

before the trout breaks the surface to fly

out for a moment to see

what the dry world looks like through spheres built for the refraction

of light through stream,

but when it pierces

the meniscus it opens its

mouth in dry air

and o! it burns ah! not the air but the colors: yellow, orange, and red.

---

말간 눈을 한

애인이여,

동공에 살던 은빛 비늘이여

오늘은 눈이 내린다

목에 하얀 수건을 둘러놓고 얼굴을 씻겨주던

가난한 애인이여,

외로운 천체에

성스러운 고요가 내린다

나는 눈을 감는다

손길이 나의 얼굴을 다 씻겨주는 시간을

(Original poem: The Snowy Night – Moon Tae-Jun)

Daily Prompt:  “Write a poem that… reacts both to photography and to words in a language not your own. Begin with a photograph [I’m using a screenshot from one of my Sims games]. Now find a poem in a language you don’t know… Ignore any accompanying English translation. Now start translating the poem into English, with the idea that the poem is actually ‘about’ your photograph. Use the look and feel of the words in the original to guide you along as you write, while trying to describe your photograph,” from the Na/GloPoWriMo site.

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