Pak Seo-won has been awarded the Poetry Grand Prize at the 56th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards for her powerful poem "Calling 1," translated by Sooj Heo. The recognition highlights the continuing excellence of contemporary Korean poetry and its successful translation into English for international audiences.
The award-winning poem "Calling 1" presents an intense exploration of love, spirituality, and human suffering through vivid and sometimes disturbing imagery. The poem begins with the declaration "I love" and weaves together religious references, physical pain, and ecstatic devotion. Pak Seo-won writes of "wild honey and locusts at my waist, flesh prepared for lust" and describes "searing the back of my hand with a cigarette, growing fuller each time I sin, like bamboo."
The work demonstrates remarkable spiritual intensity as the narrator describes "plunging my face into the pale green flame, weeping" and compares their love to "a little bird dead in a back alley" and "a heaven-cursed ox wagging its last tail." The poem's cosmic imagery spans "from stone to stone, from star to star, from moon to moon" as the speaker moves "barefoot, like a cart in the winter fields."
Pak Seo-won's poetry collection, which includes "Calling 1," has been published by Choicheuks Publishing. The translated version captures the raw emotion and complex spiritual themes of the original Korean text. The poem continues with the narrator describing themselves as "Called by god, getting lighter as my fingernails and toenails turn brown, becoming a downy rabbit," showcasing the transformation theme central to the work.
The poem concludes with a paradoxical embrace of suffering and joy, as the narrator declares: "The more precarious I am, the happier I get, the more I writhe, the more beautiful I become, so free, the root of shame." This powerful ending reinforces the work's exploration of finding beauty and meaning through pain and spiritual struggle.
Translator Sooj Heo's English version successfully preserves the intensity and complexity of Pak Seo-won's original Korean poetry, making this deeply personal and spiritual work accessible to English-speaking readers. The translation maintains the poem's challenging imagery and philosophical depth while ensuring readability for international audiences.
The 56th Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards continues to recognize outstanding achievements in bringing Korean literary works to global readers. This year's poetry prize winner demonstrates the ongoing vitality of Korean poetry and the skill of translators who bridge linguistic and cultural divides to share these important works with the world.
