2012 Sejong Writing Competition
Winning Entries :: Sijo
I Have Heard
I can speak the language of tigers, I can understand their words.
I can hear the honey bees, the bears, the lions, and the birds.
I can tell the mice what’s on my mind, and I’ve heard. Yes, I have heard.
Alice
Seeing old pictures, I think, “Was I ever really that small?”
Were those pink hands and tiny ears mine because now
I feel like Alice in Wonderland, far too big to fit anywhere.
Kite
Fly high my vibrant-colored kite; up into the clear blue sky
Make a lone colorful dot in the one-colored heavens
So that I can make my existence known to somebody out there
Obscure Piano Music
Fingers poised in midair
My eyes dart to read you
But all I see is a sea
of black and white surrounding me
Oh, why do you act so difficult?
when all I want is to understand you
Dreaming of Friends
A tiger in my dream chases me, and I wake cold in fear
My mother tells me that people don’t give up when they love you.
I dream of the tiger again. This time, we become friends.
Internet
To say I am addicted would be an understatement,
This wondrous form of technology just plain has me hooked
I’ll never get out of this scary place called the internet.
My Grandmother's Hospital Room
From the family at her side, I hear no one talking.
I stare off in space, looking at a picture of my family.
Oh, I am daydreaming of a place I wish I could go.
Perplexing Situation
The sleek, sturdy gannet soars above the foreboding sea.
Without fear, it plunges ninety feet down into the abyss.
Sitting on the shore, I brood over my indecision.
untitled
Children skip through artificial cities of granular sand
A couple’s hands clench in unison by love’s omnipotent force
Wrinkled wrists flip through memories captured forever on film