[One Sip of a Book] Kim Sowol and Cheon Kyungja's 'Jindallaekkot'

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This collection features works by Korea's representative poet Kim Sowol and painter Cheon Kyungja. It contains 150 poems and 34 paintings centered around the common themes of flowers, women, sorrow, and longing. In addition to all the poems from Kim Sowol's first poetry collections, Azaleas and Sowol Poetry Collection, selected works published in literary magazines are included. Although spelling and spacing follow some modern standard language rules, they are minimized to preserve the flavor of the poetic language. Among Cheon Kyungja's paintings, the cover illustration featuring azaleas from the 1958 Sowol Poetry Selection (Yeowonsa) is introduced.

Kim Sowol's poetry is exactly like that. The sorrowful speakers appearing in his poems are all pitiable and regretful. They are beings who must cope with situations that are not their fault, contrary to their will, and already occurred. While they helplessly hesitate without any way to overcome the situation, the situation solidifies like fate, and at some point, they must accept and endure that fate. Therefore, the subjects in his poems simply regret, long for, and grieve. (From Opening Remarks, pp. 13-14)

Although the theme of this poem is said to be the sorrow of parting, the speaker in this poem faces this parting with a stance of not shedding tears even in death, accepting the pain, and furthermore, showing an attitude of scattering flowers to bless the beloved's future path. This has been taught as the traditional image of a woman enduring suffering, but I teach it not as femininity but as maturity. Everything has an end, and love is no exception. Where love ends, only blessings remain, not curses. Irony or paradox are intellectual figures of speech far from passion. If so, wouldn't it be correct to call this maturity? (From Opening Remarks, p. 16)

You will miss and think of me,/Live your life as best you can,/There will be days when you forget.//You will miss and think of me,/Let the years just pass by,/Even if you miss me, sometimes you will forget.//But there is one more thing,/‘Though I miss you dearly and cannot forget,/How can thoughts of you fade away?’ (Cannot Forget, p. 49)

Oh, shattered name!/Name scattered in the void!/Name with no owner when called!/Name I will die calling!//One last word left in my heart/I could never finish saying./The one I loved!/The one I loved! (From Chohon, p. 119)

Azaleas | Text by Kim Sowol · Paintings by Cheon Kyungja / Comics | Munye Publishing | 304 pages | 16,800 KRW

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