Baek Seok · Poems of the North / Read & listen
하답 (夏沓)
At the edge of the field, children become birds.
Frog legs, a crawfish-hole, a snake and raw minnows: three brief scenes bring the children into the paddy’s living world.
The published text
As if mateless tits on tiptoe were the children poised On the row’s ridge as they roasted and feasted on frog legs
Poking at an open crawfish-hole, the muddy feeling’s a captured snake The moss spread out red as blood about in the sun’s hot rays
On a stone bridge seated amid a feast of raw minnows their bodies drying in the sun Transformed the children to kingfishers
짝새가 발뿌리에서 날은 논드렁에서 아이들은 개구리의 뒷다리를 구어먹었다
게구멍을 쑤시다 물쿤하고 배암을 잡은 눞의 피 같은물이끼에 햇볕이 따그웠다
돌다리에 앉어 날버들치를 먹고 몸을 말리는 아이들은 물총새가 되었다
Hear the original
Korean reading by Hojae Kim. Follow the Korean text, then return to the English.
Each stanza brings the children closer to the animals around them. They eat, poke into a hole, catch and dry themselves in the sun. The poem’s quick movements allow the countryside to be encountered through bodies and actions.
The crawfish-hole offers something the children may not expect: a snake. The tactile moment interrupts any distant, picturesque view of the paddy. Mud, heat and the red comparison around the moss keep this a place that can be felt.
The last line turns the children into kingfishers. It does not pause to explain the likeness. Read it beside the opening bird image and ask what has changed between the children watching, eating and becoming part of this scene.
Poems by Baek Seok. English translation by Peter N. Liptak. Korean reading by Hojae Kim. Artwork in the printed spreads by Choi Joongwon.
Text: Baek Seok: Poems of the North (Exile Press, 2018), pp. 56–57. Context draws on the edition’s “About the Author” (pp. 6–9), “The Palatal Poems of Baek Seok” and introduction (pp. 14–18), and chronology (pp. 316–323), alongside Liptak’s earlier research manuscript, The Palatal Poems of Baek Suk.
The reading notes are new editorial commentary based on those sources. They are not additional quotations from Liptak or a revision of his translation.
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The complete edition
324-page illustrated hardcover. Korean originals and English translations by Peter N. Liptak, with artwork by Choi Joongwon.
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