Season 1 · It means I won't forget. It means I love you.

hole
History of Love
Black Book
The chair I died in
The eyes that close in April open again in April
Jigsaw
Alone and together
synesthesia
Sister's Forest
When we were poets

Season 2: If I'm not sick, should I stay silent?

Suin on the beach
Holo
Morning in Black Uniform
table
Open-mouthed man
Plant Encyclopedia
The chair I lived in
Night and City
End of summer
This tunnel sunshine

Season 3: You Are My Author

what
9201
cracker
old movies
Alone in my dreams
Origin of the North
T-maze
single meal
earthling
Natives of the Night
Extras in movies where the extras are the main characters

Season 4: But where does my ear end?

Depression and Listening
influence
New World
People trapped in the wall
The Crimson King
mysticism
Jibakryeong
Hallways and Shadows
December 3rd
Generation

Season 5 · Let's just talk about us next time

writer
Contemporary
flesh and bones
Wrap the dry umbilical cord around the neck
Old ghost
soil and water
In the time when I am not there
The deep, quiet, and infinite white footprints of the universe seen as a point in space
eternity
Natural things

Commentary | Jeon Seung-min
Poet's words

“Dead people still have things to say even after they die.
“I’m looking for an empty chair in my dreams”

As the title suggests, ‘depression’ and ‘listening’ are the most accurate words that permeate this poetry collection.
For the poet, 'melancholy' is not simply a feeling of sadness, but a sense of perceiving the absurdity of everyday life and an ethical sensibility that resonates with the pain and sorrow of others.
The poet sings of “the natural disasters of last winter and the disasters that everyone knows about” (“The Crimson King”), but also says, “We laughed and our faith did not dry up” (“Jigsaw”).
Even in the midst of a story of despair, “like a world of darkness without day or night and the depression that everyone suffers from” (“The Crimson King”), the aura of hope that blooms is the true face of depression that the poet speaks of.
Only in the midst of our sadness, when we listen to your sorrow and live with you through it, can we finally reach out to each other.

And at its foundation lies ‘listening’ to the voices of others.
As in the sentences, “The more I listen, the more words I don’t hear” (“Melancholy and Listening”) and “As the night continued, listening became my job” (the poet’s words), for the poet, listening is not simply hearing, but an act of leaning in to the voice of the suffering other, an ethics of accepting the other’s sorrow, and in other words, proof of being alive.
The poet captures and pours his heart into the “fear that slowly tightens the breath like a screw” and the “limping voice” (“Melancholy and Listening”) heard from beyond the “unquenchable darkness” (“Synesthesia”).
This is because listening to the voices of non-human beings such as ghosts, angels, terrestrial spirits, and cats that appear in his poetry, as well as peripheral beings pushed out of the center of the world, such as women, children, and extras, is the poet's chosen method of solidarity with the world.
For the poet, they are not mere objects of pity, but subjects of sensation who react most sensitively to the violence of the world.
The poet, who observes the violence of the world through such small, weak, and fragile beings, completes the poetics of listening by quietly listening to the voices of those who cry first and hear first from the lowest position.

“It means I won’t forget.
“It means I love you.”
A soft voice echoes down the long night corridor

In his previous work, “Microclimate,” the poet sang of the love of humans living “in the midst of global depression and each individual’s climate.” In this collection of poems, “Depression and Listening,” he seeks to embrace the sadness of others through depression and connect with each other through listening, “while understanding the loneliness of life so well, so that loneliness never remains my own” (Hwang In-chan, recommendation).
The poet reaches out to the dark side once again, saying, “Of all the things you can do while holding hands in the face of death, the greatest is love” (“Melancholy and Listening”).
This is the ethics of empathy and hospitality that Lee Min-ha's poetry pursues, and it is a way to protect life.
Therefore, “the act of remembering the names of the dead” (Jeon Seung-min, commentary) ultimately means “not forgetting” and “loving” (History of Love).
Lee Min-ha's incantation, calling out the names of all those enduring the darkness of the world one by one and repeating, "Don't die/Don't die today" ("Generation"), will resonate transparently, filling the long hallways of the night.

Poet's words

I live a life commenting on the shadows of my soul.

As the night wore on, listening became a profession.
Open your ears
Next time, spread your hands

The door opens

A gloom comes in
Pull out the chair carefully
Sit facing each other like a mirror

Two melancholy cries
Don't die
Don't die today

October 2025
Lee Min-ha