“Like seagrass you wrapped around me my strands of hair turned into a thousand hands tangling with you azure scales rolled through my fingers, your moss-covered body was a flailing fish” (Lee Hyemi, Boraui Bakkat [Ultraviolet], Changbi Publishers, Inc., 2011)
Lee Hyemi is a poet who explores the relationship with the self through dreamlike senses.
1. Life
Born in 1988, Lee Hyemi won the JoongAng Ilbo New Writer Award in 2006, marking her debut as a poet at the young age of nineteen. In 2023, she contributed to the collaborative poetry collection Ilgop Beonjjae Gamgak—ㅅ(The Seventh Sense—ㅅ) published by the Young Poets’ Group Siot of the Society of Korean Poets.
2. Writing
Lee’s works are often described as fantastical or dreamlike, as they endlessly depict the self and its relationship with those around it. While she examined the self, “me,” centered on love in her first poetry collection Boraui Bakkat (Ultraviolet), in her later collections, she continues to explore the self without relying on any particular relationship. She seeks to convey the relationship with the self through abstraction that cannot be easily captured. Her work is often regarded as painterly due to her sensuous use of color imagery. The occasional sexual analogies and subject matter also lend themselves to a queer reading.
Reference
Poetry Collection and Selected Poems
Boraui Bakkat: I Hyemi Sijip (Ultraviolet: Lee Hyemi’s Poetry Collection), Changbi Publishers, Inc., 2011
Tteutbakkui Banilla: I Hyemi Sijip (Unexpected Vanilla:Lee Hyemi’s Poetry Collection), Moonji Publishing co., Ltd., 2016
BichuiJagyeogeul Eodeo: I Hyemi Sijip (By the Power of Light Vested in Me: Lee Hyemi’s Poetry Collection), Moonji Publishing co., Ltd., 2021
Hyungteokuki: I Hyemi Sijip (Scar Cookie: Lee Hyemi’s Poetry Collection), Hyundae Munhak Publishing Co., Ltd., 2022
Sinchunmunye Dangseonsijip (The New Year’s Literary Contest Award Poetry Anthology), Munhak SegyeSa, 2007 (multi-authors)
2017 je10hoe Siingwangjangmunhaksang Susangjip(The 10th Poets Plaza Literary Award Anthology, 2017), Poets Plaza, 2016 (multi-authors)
2018Jakgaga Seonjeonghan Oneurui Si (Today’s Poem Selected by Jakga, 2018), Jakga, 2018 (multi-authors)
Eoneu Pureun Jeonyeok: “Ip Sogui Geomeun Ip” Balgan 30junyeon Ginyeom: Jeoleun Siin 88 Teuribyuteu Sijip (One Blue Evening: 30th Anniversary of the Publication of “A Black Leaf in the Mouth”: Tribute Poetry Collection by 88 Young Poets), Moonji Publishing co., Ltd., 2019(multi-authors)
Sarange Daedapaneun Si (A Poem That Answers Love), Achimdal, 2021 (multi-authors)
Maeumgwa Eommaneun Chorogieotda: “Eomma”reul Bureuneun Maheun Pyeonui Si, Maheun Pyeonui Sanmun (The Heart and Mom were Green: Forty Poems and Forty Essays That Call “Mom”), Nanda, 2022 (multi-authors)
Olhaeui Joeun Si (This Year’s Good Poem), Mihak, 2022 (multi-authors)
Urireul Sesangui Kkeuteuro: Ginyeom Tijeo Sijip(Us, to the Edge of the World: Commemorative Preview Poetry Collection), Munhakdongne Publishing Corp., 2023 (multi-authors)
Ilgop Beonjjae Gamgak—ㅅ (The Seventh Sense—ㅅ), Yeounangol, 2023 (multi-authors)
Essays
Siktak Wiui Gobaekdeul(Confessions at the Table), Changbi Publishers, Inc., 2022
Eojjeoda Dangsini Joaseo: Nae Saengae Choegoui Sarang Gobaegeul Kkumkkuneun Geudaeege(Because I Somehow Like You: To You Who Dream of the Greatest Love Confession), Gom, 2013 (multi-authors)
Dangsinui Samuldeul: Samureul Daehaneun Ne Gaji Gamgak(Your Objects: Four Senses of Perceiving Objects), Hankyoreh, 2015(multi-authors)
Siin, Moksori (Poet, Voice), Booknomad, 2017(multi-authors)
Yeongwongwa Haru: Jeoleun Siindeurui Si Changjak Esei(Eternity and Day: Essays on the Poetic Creation of Young Poets), Typist, 2023 (multi-authors)
Jeolhaegodo(A Lonely Island in the Distant Sea), Propaganda Cinema Graphics, 2023 (multi-authors)
Other
Cheoeumen Ppittakage (Crooked at First), Changbi edu, 2015 (multi-authors)
Nareul Kiuneun Si (The Poem That Nurtures Me), Changbi edu, 2019 (multi-authors)
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