Hojun Suh, a young poet from Korea, the land of Morning Calm, shares his poem

Poet Mr. Hojun Suh was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1986. He majored in sociology in college and creative writing in graduate school. He began publishing his works in the independent literary magazine ‘Further’ in 2017, and was shortlisted for the 37th Kim Su-young Literary Award in 2018. His published works include the poetry collections ‘Small Fan Club’ (2020), ‘Enter the Dragon’ (2023), and the anthology ‘We Take Care of One Another’ (2022). In 2020-2021, he served as the CEO of the online literary platform ‘Dungeon’, and operated it with the goal of ‘a literary webzine that focuses on submissions published daily.’ He currently works at a digital therapeutics development company.

Ground Zero

The augmented reality army invaded.

The occupied city soon regained stability and I left the house to dig up comedy material.

Bright as a festival, the streets at dawn

There was a notice on every wall recruiting people.

You must tell it like it is

I reported myself

Wrapped in chains, he climbed up onto the stage and shouted at the crowd, who were just like strangers.

I’ve been making inappropriate jokes so far.

I apologize. I reflect.

When the inspector left, his voice gradually quieted down and he felt embarrassed.

I was fiddling with my pants.

The child soldier takes the microphone and says, “Are you so good that you are all gathered around and giggling?”

It sounded like a vocal imitation

Seeing the child soldier being quickly taken down

I think this war will somehow be long

However, the investigator seemed to not mind if the interrogation started again from the beginning.

He rolled his ballpoint pen

There are probably more things to hold back laughter than things to laugh about.

It also says so in the notice.

***

그라운드 제로

서호준(Hojun Suh)

증강현실 군대가 쳐들어왔다 점령당한 시내는 곧 안정을 되찾았고 나는 개그 소재를 발굴하러 집을 나섰다

축제일처럼 환한, 새벽의 거리

벽마다 사람을 모집한다는 공고가 붙어 있었다

있는 그대로 말해 주셔야 합니다

제가 저를 고발했습니다

사슬에 감긴 채, 단상에 올라 남과 다름없는 무리를 향해 소리쳤지요

여지껏 옳지 못한 개그를 해 왔습니다

사죄합니다 반성합니다

조사관이 자리를 비웠을 때 목소리가 점차 줄어들었고 그 사실이 어쩐지 부끄러워

바지춤을 추스르고 있었는데

소년병이 마이크를 빼앗아 말한다 당신들 그리 잘났습니까 뭘 잘했다고 모여서 낄낄거리고 있어요 지금

그것은 성대모사처럼 들렸고

소년병이 신속히 끌어내려지는 것을 보며

이 전쟁은 어쩐지 길어질 것 같다는 생각

그러나 조사관은 심문을 처음부터 다시 진행해도 상관없다는 듯

볼펜을 굴려 대고

웃을 일보다

웃음을 참는 일이 많겠죠

공고에도 그렇게 적혀 있다

Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"