Poet's words

new year
ㅁPlay
Dopamine
Be
Absurdity - The Parallel Theory of the Soloist
Cover Story
building
Wunderkammer
Underfoot
Absurdity - Carnivore and Masochism
sauna
saliva
Absurdity—the taste contained in propositions
Janus
Interview
To understand cultured people
Chewing gum
seminar
team
bourgeoisie
scrapbook
sketchbook
Ratman
causality
Save the Earth
carnivore
exotic feeling
out
One minute later
The Last Audience
beam
Land
At that time, the sounds
What kind of days are there in this era? The age of consumption.
poetry
It's suspicious
Like the CIA
substance
hearts
Details
Absurdity - Number of Cases
suspect
base
me
1 year
A short story about the small red-spotted blue-winged butterfly
escaped prisoner
There are days when - the age of loss
resume
Extra
This is a pipe
Idea
To my brother, Hyunseung Lee,
A story that makes sense─To Brother Jeong Jae-hak
Lucky Strike
cold ball
Hope - Interglacial
strength

Commentary ┃ You are not alone, Word
┃ Kim Eon (poet)

The world of 'language' that can dictate everything but reach nowhere
The maximum effort that can be made in that language
―Oh Eun's second poetry collection, "We Love the Atmosphere"

Back then, when words were stepping stones, food, the universe, mother, and you were the one, the infinitely unfamiliar sound that opened my deaf ears, Erho Erho… …
―From “Sounds of That Time”
(*'Erho' means 'I'.)

The poetry collection 『Pigs of Hotel Tassel』 (2009) has established itself as another 'style' of Korean poetry, receiving reviews such as "pushing the aesthetics of wordplay, which has been neglected in Korean poetry, to the extreme" (poet Jeong Jae-hak), "a poet who creates new poetic disciplines with the power of language that has grown on its own" (poet Lee Jae-hoon), and "making us question and doubt the social conditions and values ​​that language constitutes" (critic Heo Yun-jin).
This was the first poetry collection of poet Oh Eun, who debuted at the age of twenty through 『Modern Poetry』 in 2002.
He returned after four years with 58 poems.
The poet's extraordinary sense of language remains intact.
The unique black humor and the social and civilizational criticism contained within it have gone one step further than before.
If in my first poetry collection I focused more on 'how' and 'how differently' I write than 'what' I write, I can now say that I have struck a deeper balance between the two.
“Poetry that does not lose faith in oneself, poetry that contains the conviction that one is on the right path, poetry that infinitely affirms oneself while boldly discarding what is precious for self-renewal, poetry that does not lose its own color, poetry that willingly raises the threshold (? =)” (“Poetry that is released, poetry that is captivating - Thoughts on better poetry,” 『Modern Poetry』, January 2013 issue) can be found in his second poetry collection, 『We Love the Atmosphere』.


“I wanted to write the heaviest poems using only the lightest words.”
―From “The Poet’s Words”

You bit into a ripe potato and stuck your tongue out. It was a look that said, "I wish this were a bathroom." It was right now. I had spilled a secret I didn't want anyone to hear. Your gaze was drifting away. Towards me, towards the ceiling, and outward.
Radiation was leaking. There wasn't much time left to remember the look in your eyes. You pulled down your pants and excreted your waste as if this was the bathroom. The waste didn't cause any harm. I wanted to give your courage a round of applause.
All this happened on the first day of the next year. It snowed all day that day. As rumored, it swept the entire neighborhood in half a day. Suddenly, my lungs started hurting, so I started boiling potatoes. The thought that this might not be a bathroom made me even more speechless.
―「Snow」Full text

This work is placed in the introduction of this collection of poems.
It clearly shows poet Oh Eun's unique 'wordplay' of discovering and collecting the seeds of words, inflating and transforming them.
Using the word '설' as a motif, we woven together the meanings of tongue, rumors and utterances, leaks and excretions, eyes, and even the first day.
The same goes for the 'waste' that does not cause any 'bad' (it can also be read as 'No waste'), and the 'lungs' that suddenly become sick.
The notation is the same, but the meaning is different, constantly slipping from one meaning to another.
'설' becomes more '설', and '폐' becomes more colorful '폐', adding unconscious sensations and musical tension.

Let's stand up and talk.
The day.
I thought I caught it.
Feelings.
It seemed like I could get it.
Bottle.
They say ignorance is bliss, but
-"tool

I hold this world in my hands.
Lock you up (mouse lock), shake you up (mouse rock), and finally make you happy (mouse music).
Like a trap, like a necessary evil.
―The "Ratman" section

The day.
It seemed like it was leaking again.
Kim Do.
It felt like it was falling out.
Energy.

It was spinning.
Rumor has it.
It was spreading.
Cholera.
This era.
Love.
Poverty.
A poor person.
Rome.
In a flash.
It's in danger.
-"tool

In this way, poems that use homonyms or similar sounds or inversions to give a sense of rhythm to the entire poem and approach the familiar Korean language in an unfamiliar and fresh way are scattered throughout.
The poet flexibly releases words that have been fixed in a specific meaning and branches out into various directions, creating a series of 'word events'.
In his commentary on this collection of poems, poet Kim Eon explains how such ‘wordplay’ or ‘wordplay’ is possible:

You have to search the surroundings thoroughly, and sometimes you have to break the scene into pieces to find what you need.
When the work of collecting, accompanied by search and extraction, reaches its peak, there comes a moment when certain words/sounds/notations that initially seemed to be alone come together and exert great power, as if to prove that they are not alone at all.


That 'great power' allows us to see the unfamiliar reality depicted by an unfamiliar language.
To be more precise, it refers to the other side of reality that we have not seen or have chosen not to see.
A satire of the “world that seems to have been devoured” through the eyes of a lab rat (“Ratman”), the shadow of the desire for the “best” that “gets darker” the more you “go up” (“Absurdity - The Parallel Theory of a Soloist”), a sharp critique of the materialistic, consumer-centered era where “names that don’t even cover the minimum cost of living pour out” at dusk when the naming shops where people pour all their money “to get a name that will make a lot of money” close their doors (“The Days That Are”)), read humorously and rhythmically, it is all the more bitter.

It's morning.
I'm going to take a moment to think about what kind of hairstyle I should wear today.
I have several important lectures and meetings to attend, so I'll have to use my brain.
Take off your sleeping head and put it on.
I can feel the day starting.
You say I look older than usual? I don't look older than usual.
You say my overall impression is gloomy? With this hairstyle, there's little reason to smile.
―The section titled “To Understand Cultured People”

The seminar is over. Next time, they decide to keep quiet about things that are different. About the sea, the air, and the sky. They look at different places and share a cigarette. Their bond is as unstable as cigarette smoke. They just spread out in all directions. But they eventually gather in one place. In the trash can, in the alley, in the company, in society. Huddled together.
―「Seminar」 section

Have you ever thought about the meaning of the words 'cultured person' and 'seminar'?
We cannot live without feeling the gap between what the words we use in everyday life indicate and what they actually mean.
Therefore, when you encounter the cool cynicism behind poet Oh Eun's lively wordplay, you are momentarily bewildered by the fun, bewilderment, ingenuity, and irony.
The poet's "room of wonders" ("Wunderkammer"), in which not a single word used in everyday life is wasted.
Even now, he is probably still naively speaking in it, “We love the atmosphere/ We love the things that come over us//(…) // Waiting for the moment that shines like a star/ Waiting for the moment when our pupils, our arteries/ Captivate the scene” (“Idea”), and he is probably still deeply expressing the weight of life, the pathos of life.
We will be creating a new world with light words and heavy meanings, with familiar language habits.