2014 Sejong Writing Competition
Winning Entries :: Sijo
Rustling fabrics, I explore seas of tweed, paisley blouses, and plaid.
Tangible remembrances; your days of youth, have become mine.
Clothed in strength, now you chase no trends. Wrinkled, gray, lovely threads.
17321-012
Airplanes arc with contrails like ivory streams through blue ground.
Fearless, I rise towards them, wrap my fingers around their wings.
“Your time’s up,” the prison guard yells. “Get back inside.” Slowly, I do.
Lao-Ye (Grandfather)
The moon interrupts, the stars wink—the inky sky is their playfield.
In China, Grandfather climbed mountains to greet the escorts of Night.
Though now in America, he still salutes the moon and stars.
I look at him in awe
through the lush forest, a panda wakes
Peacefully, he sits
while eating a morning snack of bamboo
getting prepared to battle extinction
as he does everyday
Waves and the Twilight
Waves crash over the rocks, and tints the sand with a dark, shady tan
Tangling the dark green seaweed, sweeping the crabs onto the shore.
The sun sets against the dark shades of orange and yellow bliss.
The Veteran
A man and his rifle, alone in a field of despair.
His destiny speaks to him, as bullets cut through the broken trees.
Fallen brothers cry from graves, he soon joins their eternal darkness.
paranoia
Arrive at dusk no light in sight.
Lock the doors and check them twice.
No sounds ...but shadows of night.
Tapping, hysteria, and fright...
It was my mother, laundry tonight.
scare me...it might end my life.