Poet Bok-sun Chung, a native of Jeonju in North Jeolla Province, made her literary debut in 1988 through the literary magazine Sidae Munhak. She has published a total of eight poetry collections, including If a Paper Airplane Flies to Me, Journey of the Heart, and Psalms of Yeo-yu-dang. In addition, she has released the poetry anthology Youth Has Written Its Name and Gone, the bilingual Korean-English collection Sand Relief, and a critical essay collection titled The Poetic Adventures of Homo Nomad. She is a Vice President of the Korean Association of World Literature.
He Is the Blue Balloon Flower
Since he came down south on his mother’s back at the age of four,
he has lived forgetting even the scent of his hometown.
After drifting briefly to Geoje Island, then to Incheon,
he grew up in Seoul—so perhaps he is a Seoulite,
and yet, his whole life has been that of a wanderer!
Chuweuiri, Wonbukmyeon, Geumhwagun, Gangwondo
torn apart by the DMZ, now untraceable even on internet maps.
On days when life feels too hollow, he secretly dreams
of going alone to Geumhwa, leaning on the scent of home,
singing a song to the taste of makgeolli.
But neither drink nor song goes down smoothly—both get caught.
His bloodline, who lost their family register,
have become legends, departed to seek their native soil
without even a proper ancestral rite.
Even the name “Geumhwa” is now buried only
in Kimhwa-eup, Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do.
A lifetime of wandering—that is the blue balloon flower.
