Part 1: Whoosh whoosh
typhoon
Relay
Why sanitary pads
cleaning
Portal
Awards Ceremony
Egg Chef
makeup
Inventors
excursion
Being lonely means
March
Early retirement
The prime of one's appearance
nineteen years old

Part 2 Urururur
house
Are you going to take responsibility?
Bucket list
Last night
carp
global citizen
I feel uneasy
Morning~O! Land!
family
bad dream
Green Exile
Picking up mom
Chick's short story
On the way home

Part 3 Hu and Woo
Secret Note
Dragon
Emptying the pouch
hummingbird
Hello, Hokey Pokey
Scarlet Story
some flower
safe ball
sleepless night
Diving Moon
At sunset
table
Fabre's Observatory
Secret Book
Forest of Bras

Part 4: The smell of yogurt everywhere
A child who has tried
lie
The Fed
practice
While walking
excuse
9th period
genius
Where are you from?
coat
Change name tag
blue ball
parentheses
twinkle
To Yeonjae

Preface_Im Seung-hoon, "Strange Cheerfulness, Strange Melancholy"
Epilogue

Selected for the 2019 Excellent Publishing Content Production Support Project! Poet Bae Su-yeon's Youth Poetry Collection
Poet Bae Soo-yeon is a poet and also a middle school art teacher.
But while reading the poetry, we may not notice that fact.
The poet unfolds poems as if he is still living as a youth, as if he is not separated from youth.
So, the image of the youth in the poem is certainly familiar, yet new and unfamiliar.
This is because teenagers who are different from the stereotypical images of rebellious and troubled teenagers appear alive.
Young people will be delighted to read this collection of poems, as if they have opened a secret notebook they had kept hidden away, and adults will be dizzy at the thought that 'this' was what they felt at the time.


This collection of poems includes a preface written by novelist Lim Seung-hun, a long-time friend of poet Bae Su-yeon.
Starting with poet Bae Su-yeon, the introduction to his poems will provide a special experience, much like reading a short novel.
Additionally, the epilogue written by poet Bae Su-yeon also provides the pleasure of reading another poem.
Meanwhile, this poetry collection was selected for the 2019 Excellent Publication Content Production Support Project.


So, is that why Suyeon wrote such sentences? While a poet's poetry isn't entirely poetic, I often sense the poet in certain passages.
No, I don't feel it, but I think that in the face of sentences like this, the poet and the poem cannot be separated.
Maybe it's not that I can't, but that something makes it impossible for me to separate the poem from the poet.
- From the introduction, “Strange Cheerfulness, Strange Melancholy” (by Seunghoon Lim)


“I become the lie that is most like me.”
How to protect myself from an inescapable reality: lies

The speakers in this collection are afraid and anxious.
What can young people do in a reality where curses and screams are thrown around, and if they don't win first place, they are given a 'stone medal', even if their neck is broken?
I'm so scared that I want to be reborn as a faceless object, but I can't show that feeling in order to live well.


Can I look scary?
Without doing anything
Could it seem like a lie?
Like a teddy bear lying and saying it's a bear

I hope you're doing well
―Secret Notes section (pages 50-51)

I want to be the newest lie

Are you like that or not?
It's so perfect that mom doesn't believe it, dad doesn't believe it
The mirror in the living room is something you can never see
I become the most self-liked lie
―The "Lies" section (pages 78-79)

If one stays still, one becomes 'a stone' or 'poop', and in the final stages (「Awards Ceremony」, p. 16), the speakers choose to 'lie'.
The poet uses the word 'lie' to describe the hearts of teenagers who pretend to be okay and strong because they don't want to appear weak.
Lying, which involves hiding one's vulnerable inner feelings and presenting oneself in a way one wants to appear, is one way teenagers protect themselves.



“Strangely, I hated it terribly.”
Facing the monster hidden within me

What if we're good at "lying," pretending to be strong and okay, and then those lies become the truth? Can we truly get along? Unfortunately, the speakers in this collection keep standing in front of the mirror while lying.
In the mirror, the image of myself that only I know, the image of myself that I want to hide, stands like a monster.


Don't forget
Wiping the monster in the mirror every day

A towel that has been boiled and then gently torn off
Get some warm steam

Wiping the monster's face
―The "Dragon" section (pages 52-53)

Yeonjun's younger brother was sick
The disease name is too big and too white
Just hearing the name made me feel like an adult

I really liked Yeonjun

As the school year changes
Even greetings become awkward
At the graduation ceremony, we pretended not to know each other.

To my new friend
Whispering that my younger sibling has leukemia
Strangely enough, I
I hated it terribly
―The "Yeonjun" section (pages 80-81)

The reason this collection of poems is so transparently honest while dealing with the 'lies' of young people is because it shares with the readers the lies told to everyone without hiding anything.
As if reading a secret note, the horrific image of 'me' hidden in lies, my weakness, and my fearful voice are conveyed to the reader without any obscuration.
So, while reading 『The Most Like Me Lie』, we will feel sad and then have fun, and even if we feel depressed, we will eventually find comfort in some way.



"The buried body smells like yogurt."
A story about teenagers depicted in sensual images

This collection of poems well reflects poet Bae Su-yeon's unique writing style and color.
While dealing with subjects such as school life, friends, and family, it has a slightly different color and atmosphere than previous youth poems.
This is because sensory words that connect with the five senses, such as color, sound, smell, and texture, add to the unique character of this poetry collection.


When March comes

I want to go for a walk with you

The wind tickles my face and neck

We smile even if it's not necessarily because of that.

The world gets bigger and bigger every time I step on it.

Passing by the winter flower bed where the seagulls are laughing

I also passed by the empty nest sitting on the top of the tree

If you move your knees to where the wind is blowing

You and I flow into the looseness of the ice

We'll steal the warmth from each other's armpits and warm each other's hands.

On the body buried deep,

smell of yogurt
―Full text from "To Yeonjae" (pp. 98-99)

When reading a collection of poems, there are times when it is difficult to clearly understand what state the speaker is in or what he or she has experienced.
The speaker's emotions or feelings are often difficult to clearly define.
Nevertheless, the reason we can feel that feeling that we may or may not know, and even nod our heads as if it were our own, is probably because of poet Bae Su-yeon's unique writing style and color.
As the poet says, “Even in moments when nothing happens and nothing is done, we still have a life that continues,” through this collection of poems, we will be able to meet young people who are living ‘a life that continues’ even in moments when nothing happens.