Translated by Chae-Pyong Song and Anne Rashid

Painted by Kang Jang-won

A Strange Tale Kim Kyung-ju

I burned the map
so where
do all the buried volcanoes flow?

There is a dream of conception
one only dreams once more after birth.
Will the narratives that replace sleep
become my tomb?

I see a doll that sits in a room vomiting a strange cord.

To a human being who has flown out into the earth
and slowly floats to his own dream of conception,
there is a blood only he can bleed again
when he crawls back into the womb.

(Originally published in Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature and Culture, Volume 5 [2012])

Kim Kyung-Ju was born in Gwangju in 1976. He studied philosophy at Sogang University. His poetry collections include I am a Season that Doesn’t Exist in This World, The Strange Story, and Calming the Parallactic Eyes. He was awarded the Today’s Young Artist Award and the Kim Su-young Literature Award.