I Walk on a Map

By Lee Hyang Ji

Translated by Rodney E. Tyson & Hong Eun-Taek

Poem Gate. July 13, 2001.

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My foot is 235 mm long,
My hiking boot is 1 cm longer than that.

On a contour map drawn to a scale of 1:50,000
If I put one foot down, it covers 12.25 km,
Two footprints can cover 60 li.^*

If I walk on a map, I become a giant.

On the plane
Treading on a teeming world,
I become a lonely giant.
 

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^*li: a unit of distance used in Korea. 1 li = 0.4 kilometer.

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