Jeju Island Poet Jo Sungwon: Read It, Feel It, Someday

In the summer we spent 2 weeks cycling around Jeju Island in South Korea. In the sleepy town of Gosanri on the western side of Jeju Island in South Korea, we heard about a local poet, Jo Sungwon. He had escaped from a high-pressure engineering job in Seoul and was living a simple, hermitic existence in a stone shack nearby.

On our way out of town the next morning we dropped in to see if the poet was free for an interview. He was still sleeping, but graciously got up and did an interview for us in his garden writing studio. He also served us locally made beetroot tea (and tastes amazingly good).

This is the poem he read to us: (originally in Korean, translated by Migyoung Kim)
Companion
by Jo Sungwon

I will be more skeptical than my 20's

And I was more confused than my 40's.

Yesterday was nothing but intense memories

the remaining ashes are scattered on the umbilical cord.

I will love anonymous you.

The fact that the moment is dying in the arms of sublimity,

As the lofty universe faces it,

My ridiculous disgust settles down from exhaustion

And I will bring you up out of the inanity of the fetters and ensconce you.

As the index of fulfilling life sings in the empty dark,

I unwrap the unreached gift.

This video is part of the film "Jeju Island by Bike".

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