Poet's words

Part 1 Road

Young Days - Space Station/Dream Machine/Price/Snake/Escape

Part 2 clothes

Luxury/ Threads/ Boxes/ Dream Clothes/ Car Wash and Junk Yard/ Prosperity of the Fireplace

Part 3 House

Dream House/ Companion/ Dream Confession/ Alien Family Poem/ Correction

Part 4 Dance

Farewell 1/ Jellyfish/ Justification/ It was worth it/ Salvation/ Pattern of Dreams

Part 5 Sword

Bird/Rootless Arrow/Dream Roulette/Easter/Maturity

Part 6 Star

Space Oddity / Dream Shape / Ark / Dream Screening / Kaonashi's Poem / Lies / Encounter

Part 7 Blood

Garbage Bird/Ugly Trash/Memorial Park/Expert's Love/Easy Poem/Amulet/The Walker's Poem

Part 8 Night

The Watchman's Poem/The Alien's Poem/The Stone 2/Spring/The Gun Room/The Boundary of Dreams/Dream Dialogue/Geureko Nan

Part 9 Dream

Poem of young love/ Dream garden/ Without paradise

Commentary | They say minors are scary
Seong Hyeon-ah (literary critic)

How old is the expression, "Once upon a time we were"?
The word "we" too
How old are we

I'm so embarrassed by everything that I sleep alone.
For example, the blanket is old-fashioned
It was once a brand new blanket for us.

I haven't become a new person yet
Sometimes I write old poems
It seems like it would have been popular in the past
It's like something someone who's just starting out writing poetry would write
Write poetry without fear
Because I miss the old days
I keep saying I miss you
and
I'm happy
unfortunately
_「Dream Dialogue」 section

The muttering, “How old is the word ‘we’ to us?” points out the futility of the word ‘we’.
As someone who “has not yet become a new person,” I sometimes miss the old days and fall into a paradoxical happiness, but that too is a moment of reconciliation possible because I have moved on from the past.
This is in line with the poet's words, who recalls that "happiness was there in the old days/ where nothing was visible" but asks that "you do not look for me/ but remember the old days."
In that case, the poet's words, "living hard and becoming ugly" (the poet's words), would be proof that the poet, who realized that the difference between humans and non-humans, which causes them to be "treated as transparent/ or treated specially" (from "Lies"), actually exists even between individual humans, has existed as himself while at odds with the world.

The speaker of the world that says, “We can never be together no matter what” (“Young Days - Space Station”) converges on ‘me.’
When we recall that the “rectangular forest” created by Shin In-in (“Dream Garden”), which has the physical properties of a poetry collection, is always filled with non-human beings, it is natural that the subject of “I” extends beyond the human speaker to animals, objects, and even letters.
What is interesting is that the subject of the poetic speaker 'I', who appears in place of the poet, suddenly changes into "an old, broken machine" ("The Dream Machine"), "a potted cyclamen I bought at a flower shop" ("The Price"), "an easy thread" ("The Threads"), and "a true box" ("The Boxes") within a single poem.
This poetic device, reminiscent of a trance, suggests that the shallow flaws that humans have worn will be shed throughout this collection of poems.


According to "The Serpent," "the word 'slough' has two meanings, and the owners of the slough tolerate both."
As you know, the first one means 'a shell covering the skin' and the second one means 'a mistake made'.
The realization that the shell that covers the skin is a mistake can be read as an awareness of human existence being born with original sin from the beginning.
‘Clothes,’ which is also the title of Part 2, plays the role of protecting and hiding the body.
If my naked body is my strange and strange true self, then clothes are a means of conforming to the order of this world.
The speaker, who enjoys “the joy, warmth, pride, and comfort of wearing this for the first time” (“Dream Clothes”), feels ashamed when “all of my clothes are taken away” (“Expert’s Love”), but thinks “I bought this ridiculous outfit that I don’t normally wear or even desire, and it’s all over” (“Luxury”).


be empty.
Rain.
Their newly trimmed long hair was wet, their dry-cleaned cardigan was wet, their genuine leather shoes were wet, their underwear and socks were wet… … They were miserable.
Because it rained.
The rain has made a mess of us.

They began to reminisce.
At one time they were bald, clothless, covered in water-resistant paint, and ran around green rooftops in non-slip rubber slippers.
The rooftop was neat and tidy.
It was managed so that it could completely absorb the transparent rain that was just falling.
They danced on the polished linoleum floor, hooting and hooting, every single day without fail.
People reported it to the police.
"That's funny, let's just leave it at that," the policeman said.

It was a rain ceremony that seemed like it would last forever.
Maybe I wanted it to last forever.
Because I was happy.
With such a happy heart, praying for days on end is useless.
We are making false wishes.
After realizing this, they soon stopped praying for rain and went back home.

_Excerpt from "Poem of the Alien Family"

As rain falls from the sky, the alien family's clothes and hair become unsightly wet.
They recall a time when they were “a mess” and “wow, wow” dancing with their bald heads and no clothes.
Soon after finishing the prayer service, they return to their respective roles.
If we take our focus away from the seemingly harmonious role-playing of the fake family, we see a brief moment of cheerfulness discovered by Shin I-in.
The police in the city respond to people's reports by saying, "Let's just leave it."
The dance of the alien family, protected from even public intervention, leaves a deep impression as a contrast to the smooth daily life that follows.

Capturing the moments when “I might have seen something sparkling for a moment” (“Escape”), “I tried to hold on to it for a moment, but it flowed away” (“Kaonashi’s Poem”), or “the time I tried to understand it for a moment passed” (“Spring”) is another pleasure in reading this collection of poems.
The poet wants to enjoy that moment to the fullest, even if it is “nothing more than a play that will soothe me for a while while I live” (“Dream Figures”).
As he said in his prose collection, “with a true heart that is not an eternal fake but withers away like a flower” (『The Next Spring』).
“The poetic moments in which the obedient yet impudent, clumsy yet rebellious speaker is at odds with the world yet fits into it, present an unbearably uncomfortable and yet unbearably exhilarating experience.” (Literary critic Seong Hyeon-a, commentary)

The poems that start from 'I' and gain a fleeting moment of cheerfulness end with the sentence, "But I can love" (from "Jellyfish").
The fireplace, the speaker of “The Prosperity of the Fireplace,” is born with the fate of “melting away, driving out, or turning to ashes” everything it “loved fiercely.”
Just as a fireplace that loves ashes suffers so much that it “wants to lie down and burn alive”, loving a being different from oneself is inevitably harmful.
However, Shin In-in continues his love “even though his eyes are swollen/ while bumping into things, struggling, and hurting.”
The floor, which “pulls viciously” at him as he tries to “push the floor away,” “likes” him very much, so he considers it “a bruise/to be proud” (“Spring”).


The love of a god directed toward a distant object is always mixed with a certain amount of shame and pride.
Even when I am discouraged by my overflowing heart, I rise up with the pride that I still love.
A chaotic, messy, and noisy world teeming with harmful beings who dream of harmless love.
A world where one easily wants to fall in love with someone who exists on the other side, as in “A beauty’s lover is a comedian, / A poet’s lover is someone who doesn’t distinguish between right and wrong.”
The poet seems to be heading towards “a far, far place / where one would not dare to go home alone” (“Easy Poetry”), “carrying the reader who has casually opened the book of poems on his back / and crossing the long road so easily.”
This poetry collection, which faithfully lives up to the initial expectation of “embracing things that don’t belong anywhere,” will be an old greeting filled with timid love to you, who “maybe you were an alien from the beginning” (“Confession of a Dream”).
“Hello, I’m a fan…” (From ‘Interview’)

I hope that the useless poet, the useless poetry, the useless god, and our useless god, who is so lovable, will continue to write noisily.
An immature object that has found its own rhythm by mischievously shaking up everything fixed, an inhuman object that causes all sorts of things with its trembling power.
He is criticized as bad for not being the normal human being that society demands, and he is cursed to be bad, and he chews on the badness and takes on the appearance of a delinquent juvenile animal. I hope he will erase the boundaries and fly forever.
_Seonghyeon, in the commentary

A Mini-Interview with Poet Shin I-in

Q1.
This is a new poetry collection published two years after his first collection, 『Dictionary of Black-Haired Beasts』.
If the previous collection of poems explored the human existence, often referred to as a "black-haired beast," this collection seems to boldly affirm the possibility of becoming a different kind of being.
I'm curious about what you thought while preparing this poetry collection.

Just like my first collection of poems, I feel like my second collection of poems is more like a simple record of life.
Rather than considering a specific topic for writing poetry, I tried to write whatever came to me each day.
In the past, I think we internalized the gaze of others toward people with ambiguous identities, while also rebelling against it, and called them "black-haired beasts." Now, we may be calling them "aliens" while maintaining a more distant and positive perspective.
It seems like I write about alienation often, then and now.

Q2.
This collection of poems consists of nine parts.
Compared to a typical poetry collection, it is divided into several parts. What kind of flow did you have in mind?

When I collected a volume of poems, I felt like I could see the stories that were important in my life.
However, the storylines were diverse, and the methods and colors of expression were also diverse, so it was difficult to divide it into the typical 4 or 5 parts.
As I read my first poetry collection, I felt that my poems had a lot of density, so I thought that I should cut the verses short for my next collection to increase readability.


Q3.
A series of poems titled ‘Dream ○○’ stands out.
What happens in the dream world created by Shinin?

Things happen that can't be done.
I wanted to write a fantasy series that was both fiction and non-fiction, with the same essence but different circumstances, about me in a parallel world.
That's what dreams are like.
Actually, I was having a hard time coming up with a title, so I tried to use a trick, but it ended up becoming my favorite series.


Q4.
If there is a poem in this collection that you particularly cherish, please tell us which one it is and why.

I like the poem "The Prosperity of the Fireplace House."
Since I was little, I liked to light a fire in my grandmother's fireplace, so I wanted to write a poem about fireplaces and fireplaces.
Eventually, through the fireplace, we ended up talking about human nature, love, and the inescapable laws of the world.


Q5.
Please say hello to any aliens who might crash-land on Earth and pick up this poetry collection.

Hello, I'm a fan... ... Poetry is an alien language for humans.
Enjoy!

Poet's words

At that time, we could not see ahead
I followed the words of those with two eyes,
But I moved forward
We parted ways at a crossroads
Now from here
I think I can convey it to you
Happiness is in the old days
I was in a place where I couldn't see anything

I lived hard and became ugly.
Three or four eyes
Maybe with more
I wrote down what I saw like this
Don't understand
Don't look for me
Please remember the old days

June 2025
God