Brilliant enlightenment found throughout moments in life, through endless passion and gaze

Poet Hwang Tong-gyu’s new poetry collection Caught In the Spring Rain (Moonji Poet Selection No. 604, 2024) has been released. Caught In the Spring Rain is the poet’s 18th book of poetry published two years ahead of his 68th year since writing poetry, with the poet having illustrated his realizations in life through continuous tension and dialogue with his poetic self throughout his 66 years of experience as a poet. As his previous collection Just for Today was published in the autumn of 2020, amid the unprecedented fears caused by the pandemic, it has been four years since the poet has decided to greet readers with a new poetry collection. Just like Hwang’s previous work, the collection contains 59 poems that have been consistently written and published, as well as prose that reminisces the space that has been his home and a place of pure joy that held in his steps and senses for nearly 20 years (“Songs for Sadang 3-Dong”).

In this collection of poems, Hwang Tong-gyu devotes himself to asking and answering questions about the meaning of life and the fate of poetry, unwilling to give up on his dialogue with his poetic self even as he continues his rough journey into seniority. His poetry recognizes that the poet’s life is to “Walk, I shall,/ Walk side by side to my feet that walks and stops/ Until the road no longer covers the ground” (“That Evening”), and even if he is “laid down” again, he will “push myself up from the ground of old age” (“Poet’s Words”), and carry on with his life. His poems are also full of composure, warmth, and sentimentality that everyone aspires to but cannot easily acquire. His unwavering passion for "poems that stand out" ("A Day in April"), his playful yet serious affirmations of life, and his resolve to "Yes, to live and embrace the present" ("Wintering") are all reasons to keep coming back to his poems and his determination.

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