Recently, I came across two insightful sijo poems written by Americans who won prizes at the sijo contest sponsored by the Sejong Cultural Society in Chicago. One was “Social Distancing” and the other was “In Middle School.” Although written in English, the two sijo poems successfully exhibit the unique sensitivity and atmosphere of the traditional Korean poetic form. “Social Distancing,” written by Julie Shute, is an excellent sijo poem that painfully capt