Poet Ms. Koo Myongsook was born in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. She graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University with a degree in Korean literature and later earned her Ph.D. in literature from Bielefeld University in Germany. She received the New Writer’s Award from the monthly literary magazine Simunhak in 1999 and from Poetry and Poetics in 2009.
She has held various academic and cultural leadership positions, including Visiting Professor at Soka University in Japan, Visiting Professor at Waseda University, Director of the Sookmyung Leadership Development Institute, Director of the Museum and Cultural Center, President of the Korean Women’s Literary Association, Chief Editor of Our Literature, Chairperson of the Korea Gender Equality Education Promotion Institute, Policy Advisory Member for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Mediator at the Seoul Family Court, Chief Editor of Siseon, Director of the Literature House Seoul, and Vice President of the Korean Women’s Literary Association.
The Mountain
Even after ten thousand years,
It stacks layers upon layers of loneliness.
Though people tread upon it,
the path always remains alone.
With ten thousand forms,
yet possessing nothing at all.
oh, you, majestic mountain.
산은
만 년이 지나도
외로움을 켜켜이 쌓아 올린다
사람들이 밟고 걸어도
길은 언제나 홀로일 뿐
만 가지 형상을 가지고 있으면서도
아무것도 갖지 않는
너
