Black Butterfly
I’ve been running from you for so long—
On a barren road far from the festivals of life
I run across the pebbles and stones,
Running towards my death.
When I turn my head
You are my shadow—following me.
Falling flowers
The shape of a tomb.
Now I hover beautifully
In front of you—
I wonder when my final day will be.
The Day the Snow Finds You
It’s snowing.
It’s snowing outside the prison window.
The snow has found me all the way out here.
My heart stands on its tiptoes and peers outside.
It drifts away with the snow.
from Gazing at the Stars
Noh Cheonmyeong
translated from the Korean by Moonsoon Kim and Eugene Thacker
Noh Cheonmyeong is a compelling and complicated figure in the history of modern Korean poetry. On the one hand, she is regularly included in anthologies and textbooks, and several of her poems—including “Deer” (사슴) and “A Nameless Woman” (이름없는 여인 되어)—are well-known in South Korean popular culture. Her activities in journalism, education, theater, and radio have made her, for many, a model of what it means to be a writer in a modern, cosmopolitan world. On the other hand, her involvement with radical writers’ groups during the Korean War, and her subsequent trial and accusation by a South Korean military court, has cast a long shadow over her work, to the extent that her work was blacklisted by the Korean government for some time.
While she was quite active in the events surrounding the political journey of Korea in the twentieth century, Noh Cheonmyeong’s poetry remains in a universe of its own. Her language can be casual—even conversational—and then abruptly shift into a more lyrical and romantic style. Some of her phrasing is straightforward, while other lines seem to grammatically break apart. Her poetic imagery often oscillates between the quotidian here-and-now and dreamlike reverie, tinged with longing and loss. Many of her poems seem almost haunted by a sense of mortality, time passing, and an abstract nostalgia (scholars have suggested this may be due to her lifelong struggles with chronic illness).
Our aim in translating these poems has been to try and convey all these dimensions of her style. We have chosen to translate these short poems from Noh Cheonmyeong’s 1953 collection Gazing at the Stars (별을 쳐다보며). Most of the poems in this collection were written during her trial and subsequent imprisonment, a few years prior to her death.
While she was quite active in the events surrounding the political journey of Korea in the twentieth century, Noh Cheonmyeong’s poetry remains in a universe of its own. Her language can be casual—even conversational—and then abruptly shift into a more lyrical and romantic style. Some of her phrasing is straightforward, while other lines seem to grammatically break apart. Her poetic imagery often oscillates between the quotidian here-and-now and dreamlike reverie, tinged with longing and loss. Many of her poems seem almost haunted by a sense of mortality, time passing, and an abstract nostalgia (scholars have suggested this may be due to her lifelong struggles with chronic illness).
Our aim in translating these poems has been to try and convey all these dimensions of her style. We have chosen to translate these short poems from Noh Cheonmyeong’s 1953 collection Gazing at the Stars (별을 쳐다보며). Most of the poems in this collection were written during her trial and subsequent imprisonment, a few years prior to her death.
Noh Cheonmyeong (1912–1957) was a South Korean poet, journalist, and educator. Her poetry collections include 산호림 (Coral Forest; Hanseong Publishing Co., 1938) and 별을 쳐다보며 (Gazing at the Stars; Huimang Chulpansa, 1953). She worked as a journalist for several of leading Korean newspapers, was active in theater and radio, and taught at several colleges, including Ewha Womans University. Described by colleagues as fiercely independent, in 1950 she was accused of treason by a South Korean military court, but her prison term was commuted due to the efforts of fellow writers. Having struggled with chronic illness from her youth, she died in 1957 from undiagnosed leukemia. 사슴의 노래 (Songs of the Deer; Hanrimsa), her most well-known book, was posthumously published in 1958.
Moonsoon Kim was a translator and educator. She was an instructor at the Yonsei University English Language Institute and the Sogang University Korean Language Center, and taught for many years at the high school level. She lived for most of her life in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
Eugene Thacker is the author of several books, including Infinite Resignation (Repeater, 2018) and In the Dust of This Planet (Zero Books, 2011). Born in the Pacific Northwest, he teaches at The New School in New York City.
