ten reasons i like korea

used to Sydney bookshops, where u’d b lucky to come across a copy of yeats’ collected poems in their 20-book “poetry section” let alone a slessor or harwood (gleebooks and better dead than read are two notable exceptions), going to a Korean bookshop is a revelation. right there at youngpoong bookstore near jongak station (영풍문고, 종악역), in pride of place next to the top ten novel and top ten non-fiction shelves, are the top ten poetry books of the week! could u even imagine such a thing in most western countries?

poetry is vibrant, varied, and important here in korea. of course, in this top ten , there’s always a few manifestations of poetry pulp – number one this week is 작은 기쁨 by 이해인 (i love that i can translate this as little joy, seems a bit like one of those little “inspirational” books u can find at bookshop counters in oz) – but there’s usually one or two more experimental items (number four this week looks interesting – 당신의 첫 (your first) by 김혜순 (kim hyesoon) – this publishing house puts out great titles.) another book worth getting hands on comes in at number 5 with a bullet, 내딸을백원에팝니다 (selling my daughter for 100 won ) by 장진성, a north Korean who’s defected southwards. I’ve already got number 10, 좋은 시 2008 (good poems – like those “best of’s” u get in oz or the states), but due to a backlog of books that I shd be reading, I haven’t even dipped into it as yet.

poets aren’t rockstars here – my students idolise k-pop stars like Big Bang or Super Junior, not writers like 고은 (Ko Eun) or 김승희 (Kim Seung-hee) – but poetry does seem to play a bigger part in korean lives than most australian ones. every subway station has at least a couple of poems on its walls, and most Koreans u ask would be able to quote 천상병’s 귀촌 (ch’eon sang byeong’s “back to heaven”) or 김소월’s 진달래 꽃 (kim sowol’s azaelea(s)). this higher profile of poetry excites me, and seems to be an environment that fosters a wide range of poetic material; great stuff that is doing new things to the page and the ear.