Part 1 We are snowmen, wearing melting masks

Juggling / End of Summer Dogs Despair / Dream Face / For Children Wearing Glasses for the First Time / Angel Sleep / Rearrangement / Dogs and Dogs / First Years of Elementary School / Discharge / To the Depressed Lover Who Rejects the Angel / Catch Ball / Paradise on Another Page / Black Barrier / Magnolia Melancholia / Winter Continues to Do Bad Things / The World of Grass and Barley / Queen of Cups / Favorite Interest / Limbo / The Limits of Delusion / The Future Chair

Part 2 Give this crooked finger a little spark

Two angels/ But quiet and holy/ Boys and girls who thought of suicide because of the rainbow/ Dream chess/ Daydream/ Bad blood/ Shofar/ Tiger's den/ Tanpopo/ May/ Me/ When summer comes, we will get better That kind of belief/ Trigger and relay/ Rehabilitation/ Hippocampus room/ Docking/ Doping/ pleasedontleavemealone/ Chronicle/ A few small wounds/ Camp/ Six steps to the cliff/ Trampoline

Preface | Perfectly Incomplete
Yun Ui-seop (poet)

“Are you the sum total of the sorrows I have turned away from?
We agreed to call the beautiful kind of monsters angels.”

The irreplaceable poet Yang An-da tells us
A story of dreams and eternity for all 'beginning lovers'

The first volume of the Munhakdongne Poet Series for 2023 will be Yang Anda's new poetry collection, "To the Melancholy Lover Who Rejects Angels."
Yang Anda, who began her career as a writer in 2014 through the recommendation of a new writer by 『Modern Literature』, has diligently published four poetry collections, including 『A Book of the Small Future』, 『Forever with the Rumors of the White Night』, 『At the End of the World, We』, and 『Towards the Vanishing Point of the Forest』, and has built up a thick layer of fans.
Yang An-da, who has explored the maze of humanity, moving between dreams and reality, reveals, through this collection of poems, the other side of relationships that are difficult to grasp with a “dichotomous” perspective such as “affection and hate” or “love and murder” (“Discharge”), with a deeper sensibility.

This collection of poems is filled with stories of “lovers” who are “waiting for a response” to their love.
The lovers in Yanganda's poetry strive to reach “eternal love,” but “repeatedly fail.”
They whisper “I love you” (“For the Children Who Are Wearing Glasses for the First Time”) without even knowing what it is, and sometimes they change their voices to “two wild dogs” (“The End of Summer Dogs: Despair”), sometimes to “patients soundly asleep” (“Angel’s Sleep”), or to boys and girls “tearing off flatbread” in a “back alley” (“Boys and Girls Who Thought of Suicide Because of the Rainbow”), evoking the memories and emotions of each reader.

Another characteristic is that the color blue stands out throughout the collection.
In the phrase “He grabbed my wrist, where the blue veins were bulging” (from “The World of Grass and Barley”), we can feel the vitality of the relationship pulsating between the two people, and in “Blue is blue, an angel is an angel—I won’t give the doll a name like Blue Angel,” we can see a strong will not to disturb the object’s existence with anything else.
Among the blue series, the color 'dawn' seems to have a particularly special meaning, as in "At dawn, our room needs a blue rhythm."
“The blue of the bathtub at dawn” and the “dawn light” pouring in “from the window” (“To the Melancholy Lover Who Rejects an Angel”) seem to symbolize the dreamy and fantastical time spent by lovers who spend time together on the border between dreams and reality, night and morning.
In that time that seems like eternity, the lovers look into each other's "vast depths" ("Elementary School Year") and test the possibility of love.

The dream of becoming a beast
Causes a tsunami.
The nightmare pushes you into a steep canyon.
I'll put both hands on your feet.
In the blue of the bathtub at dawn.
It's hot water.
Look at our ankles shining in the water.
Some fish tickle us.
Every time I smoked, fog rolled in.
I said a light prayer before kissing.
We don't drown in the mermaid way.

(…)

The stars shine in the Orion constellation, and yes, I am scattered.
And I told you the horizon was on fire.
And I told you that the rim of our ring shines.
Are you the sum total of all the sadness I've turned away from?
We agreed to call this beautiful kind of monsters angels.
Agree that we can never wake up.
I won't faint here.
We will make a good couple.
We won't be good parents.
The ferry is falling apart into unknown clouds.
I thought I was more than half dead.
And a thin lunar eclipse.
and

Someone knocked on our door

When you knock.

Dawn light pours in through the window.
Blue.
_Excerpt from "To the Depressed Lover Who Rejects an Angel"

Meanwhile, poet Yun Ui-seop, who wrote the preface, says that Yang Anda's poetry gives "the feeling of watching a movie."
This is a film that, rather than being read as a logical narrative, makes you imagine the meaning of the blank space by “developing with the montage technique as scenes are connected.”
These characteristics originate from the unique way of speaking that is characteristic of Yanganda City.

“Wait in a cool place.
“Until our bodies turn into fluttering flags.” That’s right.
The body
It's a process of the soul hardening.
There is no broken glass, only a cracked glass filled with water.
The day of sorrow is not like the night of sorrow.
… … It’s your turn.
Tell me about the night you invented.
Even the wild horse that was galloping in broad daylight
It's harmonious to walk at night.

(…)

One day, when I was like an idiot,
I started to see everyone around me as an idiot.
“If you hold an apple in one hand and a knife in the other,
We think about the shell.”
The child ties me up wearing my crown.
_「Dream Chess」 section

In “Dream Chess,” the utterance of “I” ends with the suffix “did,” but the description of “that child” ends with “sseumnida.”
The utterance of 'I' sounds like a monologue, but the part describing 'that child' sounds like a message addressed to the reader.
In this way, Yanganda “demonstrates a writing style that does not develop speech in a consistent direction through a consistent subject, but sets up various listeners, including the reader, and speaks to each of them in a different form.”
Yun Ui-seop calls this a “polyphonic orchestra” and points out that it is “Yang An-da’s unique style.”
Yanganda's poetry is like a performance that "touches our senses by unfolding and breaking into colorful knots like the rippling waves."

The child feels moisture touching his ankles.
Suddenly I look at the shape of the beach.
The sea water wets the child's ankles.

“What do you call this?”

The child watches the dance of water.
I have no will to love the beach.
_「For children wearing glasses for the first time」

Considered a god
The child is not interested in human shadows.

Let's go on a bike ride.
This is a form of baby steps.
All the children in the world want to leave while sitting down.
When the child disappears beyond the horizon.
When his father suddenly started feeling pain in his feet.
_「Most Preferred Interests」 section

What I want is a dream, a soul, and a picnic.
The grass that was stepped on rises again.
From the square floor.
At a slow pace.
I don't have a mind like grass
I loved to fall helplessly and writhe without even dancing.
What does a giraffe feel like behind bars?

(…)

I found out too late that it was me who was bitten to death by a dog on our last vacation.
_Excerpt from "The World of Grass and Barley"

In Yanganda's poetry, a 'child', who can be said to be a being before becoming a 'lover', also appears frequently.
A child is an incomplete subject whose ego is not yet complete and who holds the potential for the future.
The child views the “educator” negatively, symbolizing the strict adult, the world of prohibitions and discipline.
I just want to have fun dancing with my friends.

We lit a fire and danced naked
Was it the climax?
beautiful.
The lake in the forest
The moon was shining.
After releasing the waves
I pulled and… … jumped in.
None of us are drowning.
Look at you.
I burst out laughing.
You dance a little.
I'm watching the fire for a bit.
_「Queen of Cups」 section

The dances of these children, which appear throughout the collection, are closer to “dances that get ruined the more they try to do them” (“Favorite Interest”).
Children discover love, become lovers, and “defeat beautifully” (in “We Will Be Better When Summer Comes,” etc.) while “dancing every moment.”
Yanganda's poetry can be said to be the world of children that embraces the possibility of such love.
Reading his poetry, we will rediscover the voice of our childhood that we had completely forgotten, learn to laugh at our failures, and realize that “in my dreams I was a love-maker” (“The End of Summer Dogs”).

◎ Mini-interview with poet Yang An-da

Q1.
Dear Author, it's a new year and your new poetry collection has been published.
What are your thoughts?

hello.
I am a person who believes in coincidence more than fate, and I am always in need of help from people.
There were many people who helped me through big and small coincidences until I got married.
Thank you very much.
I'm afraid to show my emotions, so I often make myself look ridiculous.
I am very happy to have successfully published this poetry collection, but it is not easy to express it.
If you could all just pray that I become less ridiculous in the future, I would be grateful.

Q2.
I was impressed by the 'Poet's Note' that said, "You hated poetry with angels in it."
The words, “I wanted to understand you, so I wrote it,” had a sad determination to them, and they resonated deeply.
Come to think of it, this entire collection of poems seems like traces of an effort to understand something difficult to understand.
What was going through your mind when you wrote these poems?

As I wrote in 'The Poet's Note', I often thought of an old friend who hated poetry with angels in it.
I wonder if my friend is healthy now. Will he enjoy this book of poetry? I was sure he would.
And with that thought in mind, I wrote a poem with a happy heart.
Whenever I write poetry, I always feel happy and hope that all my time will be filled with happy moments.

Q3.
In addition to ‘lover’, ‘child’ also appears frequently in poetry.
Looking at the verse, “A child who is considered a god/is not interested in the shadow of a human being” (“Favorite Interest”), the ‘child’ can feel like a ‘god’ in some ways.
That image seemed like a flexible entity that could flow like water anywhere, not only into so-called purity and evil, but also into beginning and end, aging and death, love and separation, dreams and reality.
The most omnipotent and at the same time the most fragile being.
What image does ‘child’ have for you?

When we say 'child', the first thing that comes to mind is 'next generation'.
From the perspective of the 'previous generation', I am clearly the 'next generation', but from the perspective of someone else, I would be considered a member of the previous generation, not the next generation.
But I think I have a childish side, I'm a bit funny, and I lack the 'adult' qualities I want to be.
It suddenly struck me as odd that I was someone's next generation, but at the same time, someone else was my next generation.
I've seen a lot of stupid adults, and I've seen a lot of great adults.
No one wants to be a stupid adult.

Q4.
Nine years after his debut, he published his fifth poetry collection.
But the author still feels like a 'young' poet.
It's probably because of the sensibility and style that come to mind when you think of Yanganda.
The unique sensibility, the dialogue between characters that seems to tell a story, the prominent italics, etc.
What do you value most when writing poetry? I'm also curious to know if there's anything different about your writing now compared to when you first started.

I used to write several poems featuring different characters.
When someone asked me about this one day, I replied, 'The speaker's mouth is not enough.'
I wanted to speak with many voices.
I hoped that poetry would approach people from various perspectives through diverse voices.
More than anything, I find it more fun to write like that.
I don't write poetry solely for fun, but it's true that fun is a big part of why I write poetry.
When I first started writing poetry, and when I write poetry now, I enjoy writing.
If I had to pick one thing that has changed, it would be that in the past I wanted to write 'good poetry'.
I vaguely wanted to write good poetry without even knowing what good poetry was.
Now, I want to create a 'good poetry collection'.
Of course, I don't know what a 'good book of poetry' is.
But not knowing makes it all the more fun.

Q5.
Please say hello to readers who enjoy your poetry and to those who are meeting you for the first time.

In real life, I'm someone who doesn't enjoy meeting people, is afraid to show my emotions, and has quite a low energy level.
But in poetry, it seems like the opposite happens.
I am writing this now after returning from watching the movie "Memoria."
Jessica, the main character of "Memoria," receives a lot of help from those around her to solve the problems she faces.
After the movie ended, I wanted to be someone who could help others.
I hope you all take care of your physical and mental health.
Thank you in advance for your interest.

■ Poet's Note

I was mostly drunk and it was dawn when I wrote these poems.
Suddenly, I thought it would be nice to write the poet's words in a letter, because while I was writing the poem, my friend often came to mind.

How are you? You hated poetry with angels in it.
You said you didn't like the idea of ​​angels being portrayed as special and beautiful.
There were many days when we argued until the sun rose because I didn't agree with what you said.

It was always a night of mirror balls, electronic music and alcohol.
How did we end up drifting apart? Was it because we wasted so much on each other? But I've never regretted it.

If we met now, what would we talk about?
Will you still be drunk with sleepy eyes, dancing and enjoying silly conversations?

I wanted to understand you, so I wrote.
An angel who is neither special nor beautiful.
A poem about angels who are no different from humans.
Do you think you'll like this collection of poems? If we ever meet again.

Will we stop fighting now? Somewhere.

My friend, if I think you're reading this, I feel better.

Still wandering, where in this world are you alone?

January 2023
Yanganda