Kim Sungkyu (born 1977) is a South Korean poet.
1. Life
Kim Sungkyu was born in Okcheon, North Chungcheong Province, in 1977. Growing up poor, he spent his childhood determined to make money, but in high school he became interested in poetry. He appreciated the works of Shin Kyeong-nim's Nongmu (농무 Farmers' Dance), Ki Hyongdo's Ip sogui geomeun ip (입 속의 검은 입 Black Leaf in My Mouth), and Park Nohae's Nodongui saebyeok (노동의 새벽 The Dawn of Labor). In particular, Farmers' Dance made a strong impression upon him, and gave him the courage to write poems about his own experiences growing up in a farming community.
In 1996 Kim entered Myongji University's creative writing department, where he befriended future novelist Paik Gahuim. They would often skip class together, reading books and working on their own projects. Kim made his literary debut in 2004 when his poem "Doksandong banjiha donggul yujeokji" (독산동 반지하 동굴 유적지 Doksan-dong Semi-basement Cave Site) won the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer's Contest. He continued to write while attending graduate school and published his first volume of poetry, Neoneun jalmot narawatda (너는 잘못 날아왔다 You Flew in Wrong), in 2008, followed by Cheongugeun eonjejjeum manggajin jadeureul sugeohaegana (천국은 언제쯤 망가진 자들을 수거해가나 When Will Heaven Come to Collect the Broken Ones?) in 2013. He is the recipient of the Shin Dong-yeop Literary Award and the Kim Gu-yong Poetry Award. In 2016, he and fellow poets formed the publishing company Geodneun saram with Kim as the publisher.
2. Writing
Since his debut in 2004, Kim Sungkyu has been lauded for his rhetorical restraint that serves to highlight his poetic imagination. Using clear, simple language, he crafts images that underscore his melancholy tone. His evocative poems are much beloved by his readers.
The poet takes life's unhappiness and turns it into poetry using the language of fable or fairytale. This should not be mistaken for prettifying, by all means—in "Cheongugeun eonjejjeum manggajin jadeureul sugeohaegana," a blind child regains their sight thanks to the money their mother earned selling a kidney, but when they realize the world their much dreamed-of world of beauty only amounts to pain and hunger, the child blinds themself again.
Kim also pushes himself to the brink with poems that are the result of hyperrealistic observation. The poetic narrator of "Saramirago malhal su eomneun" (사람이라고 말할 수 없는 Cannot Be Said to Be Human), searching for the source of a strange odor in their room, becomes surrounded by bugs and waits to grow old, until they "forget [they were] human." His poems also take us to surrealistic spaces such as a land ravaged by snowstorms for a century in "Mannyeonseol" (만년설 Permanent Snow), or underwater cities in "Jangnongeul busugo baereul" (장롱을 부수고 배를 Making Boats Out of Smashed-Up Closets), which turn out to be none other than our present world.
