Poetess Ms. Ah Young Lee was born in Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and completed the creative writing course at Chung-Ang University’s
Graduate School of Arts. She made her debut in the quarterly magazine ‘Free Literature’ in 2001. She has authored three books of poetry and has won two literary awards. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of the Korean World Literature Association.
DAL BODRAE
Nine o’clock at night is turning to ten o’clock
Gangbuk-gu Office Intersection
The crossing waits for the traffic light
The road between Insubong Peak and
Baekundae, with residual snow remaining
The pure white full moon is rising
Above Insubong’s head
The moon walks out looking fresh and stylish.
When the traffic light changed
The moon beckons me to come across
To Dal Bodrae Cafe before my eyes
My mother appeared in my dream last night
Hiding her raw, sore fingers in her dishcloth skirt
Like a dew-covered lotus leaf
Mother washing my forehead
She’s like the moon in front of the Dal Bodrae
Cafe door
Becoming a stone statue
Waiting until the alpha star appears.
Prepared Angela Kosta Academic, journalist, writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator
