Andohyeon Who Went to Yecheon: "Poetry Is More Interested in Small Things Than Big Ones"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Poet Andohyeon (59) used the word "first" twice in his brief greeting. "It is the first time in eight years that I am publishing a poetry collection. There was a period of four years when I did not write poetry, and although I have published more than ten poetry collections, I feel a bit nervous as if it were my first collection."

Poet Andohyeon has released his 11th new poetry collection, As the Trumpet Creeper Blooms, I Can Hang Instruments by the Window (Changbi). As he mentioned, it has been eight years since he published North Port (Munhakdongne) in 2012. A press conference for the new poetry collection was held on the 21st via YouTube.

As the Trumpet Creeper Blooms... is the first poetry collection the poet has published since returning to his hometown. He returned to Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, his hometown, in February. It is also the first collection he published after resuming writing poetry following a four-year hiatus.

The poet declared a writing hiatus in July 2013, stating, "I will neither write nor publish poetry in a country where Park Geun-hye is president." He resumed his activities in May 2017 with two new poems, "Bowl" and "Tossing and Turning," published in the poetry magazine Siin Dongne. "Bowl" is featured at the very beginning of this collection.

The poet attributed various meanings to his hiatus. He said, "I think it was a rest," adding, "After taking that rest, I became less greedy about poetry." He further said, "Fortunately, it was a good opportunity to reflect on myself for four years." In "Bowl," the poet confesses, "I realized that the flaws I cannot discard / are the bowl that is me / There were cracks all along, but I pretended to be intact."

The poet entered university in the spring of 1980, a time of extreme political turmoil. "When I wrote poetry in the 1980s, my mind was always filled with concepts like democratization, unification, and labor liberation. In my twenties, I believed I could confront unjust power with poetry. The world was not standing still but resisting, and I was anxious alone, trying to do something with poetry. But perhaps when there is unjust power, one can show resistance not by confronting it with poetry but by giving up poetry. With that thought, I did not write poetry for several years."

"I think I believed that as a poet in my twenties during the 1980s, I had to create a major movement in the world. Poetry should play a role in changing the world, and I once truly believed that. Another role poetry should play is to pay a bit more attention to small things rather than big ones."

However, he emphasized that the passion to change the world through poetry remains valid.

He said he would make the same choices if he returned to his twenties. "If the power ruling us were Chun Doo-hwan, I would live my twenties in the same way. But I believe such vicious cycles will not repeat. The world will get better and better, so I think those times will not come again."

Poet Andohyeon [Photo by Changbi]

11th Poetry Collection As the Trumpet Creeper Blooms, I Can Hang Instruments by the Window Published After 8 Years
Returned to Yecheon After 40 Years in February... Also Works as a 'Literary Club Teacher' for Local Students
"I Will Live More Humbly and Modestly"... Passion to 'Transform the World Through Poetry' Remains Strong

The poet spent 40 years in Jeolla Province before returning to his hometown. He said it was rare for someone born in Gyeongsang Province to move to Jeolla Province and called himself "lucky." "From my twenties, I began writing poetry focusing on the historical significance of the Jeolla region, and my worldview and historical perspective were all shaped there."

The poet debuted in 1981 by winning the Daegu Maeil Newspaper New Year's Literary Contest with the poem "Nakdong River." However, his full-fledged activities began after winning the Dong-A Ilbo New Year's Literary Contest in 1984 with "Jeon Bong-jun Going to Seoul." The latter, which is effectively his debut work, was also the title of his first poetry collection published in 1985.

Perhaps because of the title of his first collection, Andohyeon's move to Yecheon seems meaningful. "I lived almost my entire life in high places like apartments, but now that I live with my feet on the ground, my body seems to react differently, and my mind feels at ease."

From March to May, the poet worked 7 to 8 hours a day in the yard. He planted trees, made flower beds, cultivated a vegetable garden, built stone walls, and gathered stones for the walls. He lost about 7 kg during that time. Although he ended up doing physical labor he called "nogada" (manual labor), he couldn't even hammer nails properly. He thought of himself as a "white-handed scholar." He included poems written during this hands-on work in this collection: "Drawing a Pond" and "Boundary of the Flower Bed."

He self-assessed, "I don't think I am at the stage of wrapping up my life yet," adding, "I still have some strength to work." To promote his hometown Yecheon, he launched a quarterly magazine called Yecheon Sancheon. He believes sharing his poetry experience with others is something he must do. Therefore, he gathers high school students from the Yecheon area once a week to work as a sort of literary club teacher.

The poet is also known as the "Yeontanjae (Briquette Ash) Poet" because of the famous line "Do not kick briquette ash carelessly." However, he prefers to be called the "Naeseongcheon Poet." He spent his childhood like a friend with Naeseongcheon, a tributary of the Nakdong River. His newly built house is only 400 meters from Naeseongcheon.

"Until about a decade ago, Naeseongcheon was a vast silver sand beach without a single blade of grass. After the Four Major Rivers Project created the Yeongju Dam upstream, grass and trees grew thickly along the riverbank where the silver sand used to sparkle. This was one of the most regrettable things when I returned home. I am exploring ways to restore the river to its former state."

The poet vowed to take the word "humility" more to heart. "We must be humble not only among people but also when encountering plants and animals, and in front of rivers and seas. That does not mean I am shrinking back. I will live more quietly and modestly."