In his poetry collection, Flatfish, Moon Tae-jun offers an aesthetic that emphasizes the author’s exploration of the inner self. At times sparse and allusive, his poems use blank space and other stylistic considerations to convey a voice and thought that ranges from the contemplative to the surreal and absurd. Moon’s poems suggest Buddhist ideologies, natural images, and Korean  temples, as the collection explores individual experiences within the context of a search for understanding a greater whole.

While Korea is certainly the setting of these poems, the works remain largely free of cultural-specific imagery and are, instead, naturalistic or universal. This first bilingual edition is a critical resource for students, poets, translators, and general readers alike.

English-Korean Bilingual Edition 
영-한 이중언어판

An emerging voice in South Korean literature, MOON TAE-JUN has published a number of poetry collections in Korean (Crowded Backyard, Barefeet, A Shadow’s Development, and more). In poems that range from short, broken lines to longer prose-like forms, Moon Tae-jun evokes a sense of longing, as if searching for moments in the past that help inform the present. 

BRANDON JOSEPH PARK is a lecturer in the Korean Program at the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Rutgers University - New Brunswick, and in the Writing Program at Rutgers University - Newark. He is the co-translator of You Call That Music?!: Korean Popular Music Through  the Generations.
 

Foreword: Slow, Quiet, and Flat—Moon
Tae-jun’s
Anti-Speed
Lyric by
Jae Won Edward Chung xiii
Translator’s Note xix
Words from the Poet xxiii
Part 1
Longing 3
Water Lily 4
Floor 5
Someone Cries and Goes 6
Back like a Rascal 8
Old Mother
9
Horizontal 10
The Outside 11
Destitution 12
Destitution 2 13
Bugs, Poems, & Co. 14
Frost 15
One Evening
16
Sack 17
Fading 18
About That Time 19
The Stone’s Stomach 20
Part 2
Path 23
Flatfish 24
Flatfish 2 25
Flatfish 3 26
Nursing Dog 27
Stars Sprout in the Winter Sky 28
School 29
Spread, Disease, Spread! 30
Oh My God! 33
Looking at Small Mums 34
Singing of the Tree Standing Dead 35
What to Do, What to Do 36
Metaphor
of the Vine 37
Thicket 38
One Sad Spring 39
The Bottom 40
Part 3
The Smell of Rice I Miss 43
Dream 44
Mysterious Flower Vase 45
The Noodle Shop with a Wooden Deck 46
Allegory of the Day Moon 47
The Marking Does Not Last Long 48
The Ginkgo Tree behind
Unmun Temple
49
Surprised by the Color 50
The Flower Blooms 51
I Walk a Long While 52
One Meadow Bunting 53
At the Sound of Mountain Rain 54
Empty Chair 55
Reservoir 56
The Crow and the Dog 57
There
Is No Cypress 58
In October 59
When I Turn Away 60
Part 4
The Wild Goose Laughs 63
Small Bird 64
The Promise of an Empty House
65
Ah, Twenty-Four
Days 66
Oh, Thorn Lantern! 67
Like My Mother’s
Family
Home, Visited Again 68
The One Cicada into the Persimmon Tree 69
A Day, Here,
like the Autumn River 70
Another Door outside the Door 71
Birthing of the Plum Blossom 72
Jade Cicada 73
Wooden Block 74
Winter Night 75
Molding Clay 76
Go into the Ksana 77
The Wind, to Me 78
Original Korean Text
제1부
思慕 83
수련 84
마루 85
누가 울고 간다 86
나는 돌아가 惡童처럼 88
老母 89
水平 90
바깥 91
극빈 92
극빈 2 93
벌레詩社 94
서리 95
어느 저녁에 96
자루 97
묽다 98
그맘때에는 99
돌의 배 100
제2부
길 103
가재미 104
가재미2 105
가재미3 106
젖 물리는 개 108
冬天에 별 돋고 109
떼 110
번져라 번져라 病이여 111
오오 이런! 113
小菊을 두고 114
강대나무를 노래함 115
어떡하나요, 어떡하나요 116
넝쿨의 비유 117
덤불 118
슬픈 샘이 하나 있다 119
바닥 120
제3부
그리운 밥 냄새 123
꿈 124
이상한 花甁 125
평상이 있는 국숫집 126
낮달의 비유 127
무늬는 오래 지닐 것이 못 되어요 128
운문사 뒤뜰 은행나무 129
빛깔에 놀라다 130
꽃이 핀다 130
나는 오래 걷는다 132
한 마리 멧새 133
산비 소리에 135
빈 의자 136
저수지 137
까마귀와 개 138
측백나무가 없다 139
시월에 140
내가 돌아설 때 141
제4부
기러기가 웃는다 145
작은 새 146
빈집의 약속 147
아, 24일 148
오, 가시등불! 149
언젠가 다시 가본 나의 외갓집 같은 150
감나무 속으로 매미 한 마리가 151
어느 날 내가 이곳에서 가을강처럼 152
門 바깥에 또 門이 153
매화나무의 解産 154
옥매미 155
木鐸 156
겨울밤 157
흙을 빚다 158
찰라 속으로 들어가다 159
바람이 나에게 160
Acknowledgments
161
Notes on Contributors 163