Tribute poems published to celebrate Park Mok-wol’s 100th birthday

“A blue roe deer with clear eyes/ walking alone on the snow / raises its head and suddenly looks back. / Over the snow-covered winter ridge/ moonlight sheds light / on the withered leafless trees.” (“Park Mok-wol” written by Oh Se-young)

“A Silent Appetite (see photo),” a collection of tribute poems written by students of renowned Korean poet Park Mok-wol was recently published to mark his 100th birthday. Forty poets who learned from Park including Lee Geon-cheong, the head of the Mok-wol Literature Forum, Kim Jong-hae, Shin Dal-ja, Oh Se-young, and Jeong Ho-seung participated in the project. The students put their famous poem and a tribute poem missing their teacher in the collection.

Poet Kim Jong-hae recalls fond memories of his teacher visiting his home. “Mok-wol and his wife came to my house/ The sky was getting darker in Sanggye-dong/ and Mt. Bulam was washing its feet under it / Mok-wol pointed Mt. Bulam with his cane / It looks like Mt. Jaha/ (omitted) My wife and children don’t know Mt. Jaha/ but a big smile on my mother’s mouth./ (from “Dinner Table”)

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