Poet Park Nohae's first autobiographical essays

“The story of my childhood” in 33 episodes

“This is the story of the great gifts that raised me”

Poet Park Nohae returns this time with the face of a ‘boy’. The poet who shook the age and people’s souls with his vivid poems during harsh dictatorship. The revolutionary who was sentenced to death as a labor activist and democracy fighter and was kept in solitary confinement in prison. The friend who has wept alongside children suffering from poverty and conflict in villages around the world. For many young people, poet Park Nohae became an adult who walked in search of light in a lost era. This is the question readers have asked him most often: “What has enabled you to live such a life?” He answers. “Everything for me started with ‘The Tear-Flowering Boy’.”

Poet Park Nohae’s first collection of autobiographical essays, is the story of his childhood, told for the first time. They tell how a boy called “Pyeong” grew up in Donggang, a small town in the southernmost province of Korea, until he graduated from elementary school. It was a dark, poor, and sad time, but “there was no darkness in my heart,” he says. “Now I realize what a great gift I had been given. I must tell the story of how what at first glance seems like backwardness and hardship raised me and made me who I am.” (from the Author's Note) So now we are brought to see the power of the source that permeated the life of Park Nohae, and the memories he has kept secretly until now.

The Tear-Flowering Boy is written in vivid prose rather than condensed poetic language. For those able to read the Korean, the exquisite and delicious Jeolla dialect provides a heartfelt experience. As we become immersed in the stories, like the touch of a loving mother stroking one's back, before we know it, this little child moves our hearts to laughter and tears. Between the sentences that seem to awaken all the senses of the body, the mountains, fields, and sea where he played unfold, the scent of azaleas, sweetbrier, and camellias permeate the air, depending on the season, and the dirt yard, village alleys, school, marketplace, the little chapel, and the scenery where he was raised are depicted like in a movie. The illustrations included in each of the 33 essays are pencil drawings by poet Park Nohae himself, adding warmth and nostalgia, as if we are traveling through the landscape of the text.

In a world that is becoming increasingly harsh and violent

We’ve been waiting for such a pure and elegant story

“There are ‘critical periods’ for people, throughout a whole lifetime. The first comes when we are young boys and girls, a time when the values, outlook on life, and worldview that will illuminate our entire life are formed; a time to develop the fundamental power to set off into that vast world; a time to embrace everything that had not bloomed yet.” (from the Author's Note) The setting of The Tear-Flowering Boy was a time when there was no electricity, many things were lacking, there were not even books to read to one's heart's content. However, there was enough nature, humanity, and time, and “people with pure rural hearts” were alive.

“Maybe he did not want to act like that. Don’t blame anyone, take good care of yourself,” A grandmother who embraced a young man who had committed a crime and gave him the strength to live again. Neighborhood adults who encouraged Pyeong, who had lost his father at the age of seven, to try ‘Walking around the neighborhood.’ “It's not that it's not true,” Friends who stood up together and cried together when something unfair happened. “If you find something better, teach me,” The teacher who always bowed and listened to the students. A peddler who carried all the things in the world and shared exciting stories. The mother who taught with her life, not with her words, and prayed in tears at his bedside as he slept. Father Jose, ‘my friend’ in the little chapel. Neighborhood brothers and sisters filled with romance, style, and affection. When he felt alone, “Do you want to play with me?” And the girl who was his first love, who came to him with poems and sharpened his pencil.

People who live truthful lives, even though they are poor and uneducated, have human dignity, have caring relationships with each other, and are able to tell the ‘truth.’ The anecdotes of a boy who grew up there unfold in a simple and rich way, and the heartbreaking scenes that he can no longer return to evoke longing and hope. “Nowadays, the world is becoming harsher and more violent day by day, while blatant vulgarization and vulgarity are sickening our souls.” (from the Author's Note) Just reading the story of the extremely gentle and affectionate The Tear-flowering Boy will calm the storms in your heart and fill you with clear and deep strength.

“I know it’s hard. I cried a lot too.

Those tears will become flowers and those eyes will become a path.”

Poet Park Nohae offers ‘Tear-Flowers’ of hope and courage.

“The losses are as great and deep as the achievements; the noble human spirit and virtue have fallen to the ground, and the seeds of a hope that has existed for thousands of years are being lost and forgotten.” The Tear-Flowering Boy is written “because I must remember and pass on the world and times I experienced, the struggles and wonders of the people I met, in that one place and time on Earth,”(from the Author's Note) reflects the ups and downs of modern Korean history. It is also a legacy of the memories that Park Nohae, who lived it with his whole body, developed through deep introspection. It reminds us of “the original things, the purity of humanity, were all too quickly lost at some point,” and conveys in its stories a ‘spark of hope’ that has been cherished for a long time.

What makes a human being; what parents and children, teachers and students, neighbors and friends should be like; the moments that made me who I am today; how I should live now, The Tear-Flowering Boy invites each of us to review our own stories. ‘What kind of adult has the boy and girl inside you become now?’ The boy Pyeong comes running with a bright and cheerful face and speaks with moist eyes. “I know it’s hard. I cried a lot too. But you have unknown days that no one else has and the surprises of the journey await. Those tears will become flowers and those eyes will become a path.”(from the Author's Note) Let’s enter into the stories of the boy Pyeong, our strength of mind and height of spirit will grow significantly after reading.