The 4th Ice Age, Tundra

By Jeon Dong Gyun

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism, 3(3), p. 172. Fall 2000.

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Hush!
Two people lying one upon the other in a cave
An old woman and a young man
They say nothing
There is not even the sound of flesh rubbing flesh
The flint by their heads is powerless
Discarded clam shells clatter
Fluttering, one petal flies into the stillness
Flinging away the peak days, the bright praises
And the whirlpool of all delusions
They lie bone to bone
From out of the cave, reindeers and antelopes run and play
A mammoth is leaving the earth, dragging the horizon
On the frozen ground, warm ashes smolder
The empty space warms itself, flickers and shivers

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The Quarterly Review: Poetry & Criticism | Curriculum Vitae