Kang Bo-won
Poem | Goose Girl
Perfect opening celebration poem
A poem that decides to be stolen
Preparing to draw
Toto's Breakfast
A Sleepy Night's Story
Prose | Things that happen to us

Kang Hye-bin
Poem | It's strange to see a snowman
If you call me "Suk-ah"
This rain
The future of salty tomatoes
Oyaso's Joy
Table with melon juice
Prose | Future, Possibility, Science Fiction, Unfinished, New Normal, Virus, Connection and Disconnection

Kim Ri-yoon
Poetry | Reworlding
near future
The truth is a feeling
small and long front
Tourism
Tourism
Prose | Transparency Mixed Space

Ryu Jin
Poem | That's not it, it's a horse
There was a stone shaped like a drunken Taoist priest in Yangganggong's room, and he recited this poem.
Tabasco Monologue
Far away, far away, far away, far away, far away, far away
Poet's words
Essay | Ramen Cooking King (---You must see this)

Park Se-mi
Poetry | Circular World
The front and back of reality
negative legacy
decoration
Void
cataract
Prose | Context

Park Ji-il
City Cube
There… to my Anne who is picking snowflakes one by one and putting them in a basket.
day off
Saccharin Project
Marmalade
Ibagu
Prose | Playground
Hydra
Playground #3-1
Intercity bus

Baek Eun-seon
Poem | Red Dog and Red Dog Touch
Secrets and Questions Secrets and Questions
The person who doesn't open the box
The person who doesn't open the box
The person who doesn't open the box
Fiction Diary
Prose | Unanswered Questions

Ahn Tae-woon
Poem | Suddenly that season comes
Light Weather of the Day
exoticism
Pedestrians
That kind of love that makes love roll
today
Prose | Grandmother
7.
29.

Foreign country

Lim Yu-young
Poetry | Record the exact time of death
soft heart
soft heart
Dream story
heterophony
A natural thing
Prose | A Bowl of Water

“A poet is not a name owned by his contemporaries,
“He is the one who invents the sensibility of the times.”

A glimpse into the shining present and future of Korean poetry in 2021.

A special project to convey the flow of poetry, 『Poetry 2021』, has been published.
In order to assess the current state of poetic language with a new sensibility and to actively support the creative activities of young poets, Munhak-kwa-Jiseongsa has established a poetry category in the Munji Literary Award, now in its 11th year.
〈Poetry View〉 is a series of books that compiles the Munji Literary Award [Poetry] nominees, and one volume will be published each year.

The judging panel, comprised of poets (Kim Eon, Kim Haeng-suk, Lee Won) and literary critics (Kang Dong-ho, Lee Gwang-ho, Jo Yeon-jeong), carefully reviewed poems published over the past year and selected works by nine poets who debuted less than 10 years ago.
This year's nominees are works by Kang Bo-won, Kang Hye-bin, Kim Ri-yoon, Ryu Jin, Park Se-mi, Park Ji-il, Baek Eun-seon, Ahn Tae-woon, and Lim Yu-yeong (in alphabetical order).
『Poetry 2021』 includes four candidate works (previously published works) by poet, as well as two new poems and prose.
In particular, prose that uses various words to suggest the world of poetry will provide small clues as to how the poet constructs his poetic world and why he writes poetry.
This book, a compilation of various efforts to connect readers and poets, is both a “battlefield where the language of the day and the language of the night collide” (Kim Eon) and a place of hospitality and friendship surrounding Korean poetry.
“I hope their poetry will be read more closely, more carefully, more deeply.
So, with the hope that this world will be read more closely, further, deeper, and more anew (Kim Haeng-sook), I hope that you will happily encounter the poetic energy that shines differently from each poet.

* Detailed judging process and judging comments for the Munji Literary Award will be published in the winter issue of Literature and Society and on the Munhak-kwa-Jiseongsa website.



A word from the Poetry Project
It is no miracle that in a time when the age of poetry seemed to have vanished, young poets and readers who rediscovered their unfamiliar sensibilities emerged.
Breaking through all the vain rumors, in the depths of Korean literature, there were constant attempts to write and read poetry that had never been seen before.
〈Poetry View〉 aims to focus solely on the kinetic energy of young poetic language at the peak of poetry writing.
We selected nine poems from among those published in literary magazines over the past year by poets who have been in the literary world for less than 10 years, and asked them to submit additional new poems and prose.
This small festival, held once a year, is not a selection exercise, but rather a place for literary friendship to share intuitions surrounding Korean poetry.
What we experience is the event of 'poetry' itself, writhing beyond the names of young poets.
A poet is not a name owned by his contemporaries, but a being who invents the sensibilities of his contemporaries.
Poetry arrives first at the moment of language to come, waiting for us with an indifferent expression.
The act of ‘seeing poetry’ now opens up a world that is more calm and intense than poetry.
Selection Committee: Kang Dong-ho, Kim Eon, Kim Haeng-sook, Lee Gwang-ho, Lee Won, Jo Yeon-jeong

The poets whose works are included in 『Poetry 2021』 are diverse yet strangely balanced.
From poets like Baek Eun-seon and Ahn Tae-woon who have already published two or three poetry collections and have received widespread support and acclaim, to poets like Kang Bo-won, Kang Hye-bin, Ryu Jin, and Park Se-mi who are drawing attention for their work since their first collections, to poets like Kim Ri-yoon, Park Ji-il, and Lim Yu-yeong who have yet to publish a collection but are expected to bring about some kind of tectonic shift in the poetry world in the future, the works of poets who each form a cross-section of our poetry from different angles are exquisitely distributed.
Kim Eon (poet, in the judges' comments)

* Kang Bo-won, "Goose Girl" and others
He he
Many things I hadn't thought of
because
Cover your face
I can burst into tears
Don't do that
Doesn't
―The "Perfect Opening Celebration Poem" section

Poet Kang Bo-won, who has continued to write uniquely in various genres including poetry, criticism, and essays, presents poetry that brings out a strangely warm irony through a flexible and free poetic flow.
You can find a rare and unique wit between the lines of Kang Bo-won's poetry, which "skillfully hits the mark without intending to" (Kim Haeng-sook).



* Kang Hye-bin, "It's Strange to See a Snowman" and others
Most hearts are better left frozen
Run out at the speed of light
If something happens that you absolutely cannot stop
―From the section “The Future of Salty Tomatoes”

Poet Kang Hye-bin, who became known to readers with her first poetry collection, “Palette of the Night,” is now trying to break away from another form of centrism after “crossing from death to love” (Kang Hye-bin’s prose).
This is an opportunity to encounter poems that constantly position themselves in marginalized positions and “showcase the dystopia of the future that has already arrived with a new voice” (Kim Haeng-sook).


* Kim Ri-yoon, "Reworlding" and others
No matter what name you give it, it will all be a failure.
You will grow up as you please, overflowing with names every time.
Breaking the surface of the place it belongs to
―The "small and long front" section

Poet Kim Ri-yoon, who began her career by winning the 2019 Munhak-kwa-Society New Writer's Award, captures flickering images with delicate and "precise poetic architecture" (Lee Gwang-ho) and allows us to experience them with our senses.
Kim Ri-yoon's direction can be guessed from a single sentence in her prose: "I want to start over again in a place where all the beautiful scenes have disappeared, where the feeling of beauty has disappeared, and where even the word beautiful has disappeared."
This is the first project I've participated in since changing my stage name from Kim Ji-yeon to Kim Ri-yoon.



* Ryu Jin, "That's not it, it's a magic wand" and others
Seriously, tears, I'm the three thousand mile East Sea and Wittgenstein Frankenstein
Mitchgenstein's Trio
―The "mulgajungmulgajungmulgajungmulgajung" part

Poet Ryu Jin, who has written poems brimming with explosive poetic energy and vibrant verbal movement, also exudes overwhelming poetic energy.
You will likely be happily swept away by the flood of language where “the worlds of myth, tale, film, and comics are intertwined, and the ancient, medieval, modern, and future are crossed, and intellectual exploration and the impulsive outbursts of the unconscious are connected” (Kim Haeng-sook).


* Park Se-mi, "Circular World" and others
Shadows cast by the morning sunlight

I will work for that meaninglessness
I will mark the day by placing flowers in a vase.
―「Decoration」 section

Poet Park Se-mi, who contemplates place and space, continues to produce sophisticated and honest poetry that combines the intellect and sensibility she built up in her first poetry collection.
He stands out for his firm prudence in not easily turning his gaze away from the world and courageously taking on the question of “the front and back of reality” and its context without giving up on “a sense of history” (Lee Gwang-ho).
Somewhere between “the fact that I am placed in a certain context” and “the fact that I can become the context,” lies Park Se-mi’s poetry.



* Park Ji-il, "Cube" and others
We are one and one is not us in that the hands that are held cannot remain shaken.
―The "Cube" section

Poet Park Ji-il, who began his career in 2020 with the Kyunghyang Shinmun New Year’s Literary Contest, was praised for revealing “a world of poetry that appears still yet also moves” with “a unique breath.”
Judge Kim Haeng-sook called his poetry “action” rather than “state,” noting that it “aesthetically experiments with ways to break free from the shackles of rigid identity.”
Park Ji-il's first poetry collection, which allows us to encounter the 'self' that is declared and denied countless times through rewritten names, is scheduled to be published by Munhak-kwa-Jiseongsa in November.



* Baek Eun-seon, "Secrets and Questions, Secrets and Questions" and others
I pictured an image slowly brightening and fading away, and I wanted to believe it was complete despair.
―The "Secrets and Questions" section

Poet Baek Eun-seon, who is always skeptical of poetry and herself and does not easily compromise, has expanded her world of poetry by publishing three poetry collections, including her latest work, “Feeling Helped.”
“Between recorded despair and unrecorded despair” (Fiction Diary), the poems, crafted by continually building up and then tearing down a broken heart, and moving closer and further away from the “box” of memory, “bear the greatest witness to life” (Kim Haeng-sook).


* Ahn Tae-woon, "Suddenly Becoming That Season" and others
But everyone passes by, pedestrians.
I want to stop and become a pedestrian.
I saw someone hanging around
―The "Pedestrians" section

Poet Tae-Woon Ahn walks and strolls through this world, following the poetry that flows without stopping.
Last year, in 『To a Walker』, Ahn Tae-woon's poetry, which carries delicate emotions with every step and leads us to discover the unexpected wonders of life, "creates expressions in the landscape and calls out to our neighbors" (Kim Haeng-sook) with his uniquely flowing style.
It makes me miss the quiet beauty contained in “the shimmering light” (An Tae-un’s prose).


* Lim Yu-yeong, “Recording the Accurate Time of Death” and others
There is no future.
Now, like never before
No.

I shook the bottle
Nothing more
It didn't come out.
―The "Soft Heart" section

Poet Lim Yu-yeong, who began her career by winning the 2020 Munhakdongne New Writer's Award, has consistently presented a "beautiful and lonely world that flows smoothly and elegantly along the surface of life" (Hwang In-chan), as the judges commented upon her debut.
The origin of Lim Yu-yeong's poetry, which "makes the entire poem seem poetic in an instant after it ends" (Lee Gwang-ho), can be guessed from the prose piece "A Bowl of Water" included at the very end of this book, which contains sentences that seem unpoetic.