Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon

In the early twentieth century, during the age of modernism, poetry was regarded as a noble and pure art form, elevated above and detached from the realities of everyday life. However, Moon Chung-hee, a prominent Korean poet, shows us that in the age of postmodernism and beyond, our ordinary lives, too, can become poetry.

Moon discovers gems and truths in the everyday experiences that we often pass without a second thought. Then, through her remarkable poetic sensitivity and marvelous transformations, she reveals those treasures and truths to us through metaphors. For poet Moon, therefore, even the most trivial daily act or aspect of life becomes an object of poetic exploration worthy of reflection. As we read her insightful poems, we come to realize that we are indeed living in a “world of poetry,” where our own lives themselves become lovely poems.

For example, Moon perceives poetic truths even in the everyday act of applying makeup, something many women do almost unconsciously each day. In “Putting on Makeup,” the poet writes: “Painting my lips scarlet / I see in the mirror a vain princess, all made up — / My small face an arena of international capital / A theater where fictitious dramas / Staged by cosmetic illusionists converge / A small territory where lavish flags wave.”

Moon continues, “Sexy brown is the color a la mode this fall. / Rouging my cheeks, as Chanel instructs / Adhering to the myth of glamour / I realize the conspiracy is almost complete. / Occasionally frightened at my mind’s enslavement / I’m once again bewitched by cloying perfume / an apparition painted in soft tones / and my sporadic protests are weak.”

“To stop time’s winged chariot / need I be adorned in such sad fragrance? / With Estee Lauder eyeliner, I carefully / draw a dark border around my eyes / and dab a drop of Christian Dior behind my ears. / The colonized femme elegante ready to sortie! / She makes her entrance slowly, like a tragic heroine.”

In the image of a woman putting on makeup, Moon uncovers the clandestine conspiracy of cultural imperialism and capitalism, which exploits women’s desire to become beautiful and profits from it. In the above poem, therefore, the poet suggests that, intoxicated by the artificial beauty and enchanting fragrance created by cosmetics, the modern woman has symbolically reduced herself to the status of a colonized princess. Through this metaphor, Moon offers a subtle critique of contemporary society where people are manipulated by commercialism and lookism, while seeking and valuing physical beauty only, ignoring the importance of inner beauty. The poet’s ability to find such profound meanings in something as commonplace as applying makeup is truly remarkable.

The poet’s gaze, then, turns to the husband whom the woman encounters after completing her makeup. What, indeed, is a husband to a married woman? In her poem, “Husband,” Moon writes rather humorously, “Neither my father, nor my brother / He’s the man standing somewhere in between / Someone who is closest, yet so remote / When I’m suffering from insomnia due to my platonic romance with another man / I am inclined to ask for his advice — / Oops! Anything but that! / So, I silently turn away from him in bed.”

Then the poet continues, “Sometimes my enemy. / Other times, the only man on earth / who holds my children so dear. / So I make dinner for him again / this man I’ve dined with so many times / this man who taught me how to fight.” Readers cannot help but smile at the poet’s witty reflection on husbands as perceived by their wives.

Moon’s profound insight into the relationship between a man and a woman continues in “Tale of a House.” In the poem, she writes, “Women are born / with a palace of their own / So, they don’t need a house on earth. / Only men need a house in this world / Behold! Men bleed all through their lives / carrying cement or bricks on their backs / to build a house / eternal construction workers / they piously wear a touch of eternal grief.” Then the poet concludes, “They say men often return to their house / their birthplace, to die. / History is full of inscrutable mysteries: / imagine being born with a palace in your own body. / No wonder women are constantly persecuted / and invaded.”

The poet transforms virtually everything into poetry. For example, looking at a flying arrow, she reflects that the careless words we utter can lodge themselves in another person's heart like poisoned arrows and never return. In this sense, Moon is a master of poetic transformation who turns ordinary life into profound and exquisite poetry.

Like King Midas in Greek mythology, whose touch turned everything into glittering gold, everything touched by poet Moon becomes beautiful poetry. The difference, however, is that while Midas pursued material wealth, Moon seeks the invisible jewels of the human soul.

Poet Moon Chung-hee shows us that we can alter the mundane world into a magical, poetic place by changing how we see through our everyday lives.

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Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed


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