At the end of life, the poet Hong Kyung-heum of pear flowers, the pear flower blooms in the field of the sixth collection of poetry
Aug 05, 2025
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Senior poet Hong Kyung-heum (76) has published his sixth book of poetry, "Pear Flowers Bloom in the Pear Field" (Golden Eggs). After serving as a physical education teacher for more than 40 years, he has been writing poems with passion for more than 20 years since he entered the literary circle after being over 50.
His first collection of poetry, Blue Thinking, was held at the University of Washington in the U.S. and attracted attention, and he published this collection six years after The Time to Read Emotions (2019). In "Pear Fields Bloom," reflections on life that are deepening after retirement can be seen everywhere.
Born in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, Hong graduated from Kyung Hee University's Graduate School of Physical Education and Physical Education. He has won a number of literary awards, including the 7th Dokdo Literature Exhibition Special Exhibition, the Epi Grape Literature Award, the Korean Creative Literature Writer Award, and the Hwacheon Literature Award, and serves as a copyright member of the International Pen Club and a member of the Overseas Literature Development Committee of the Korean Writers Association.
▶The Poet's Language, Insight into the Last Seasons of Life
This collection of poems contains universal human problems with themes centered on aging, death, home, and love. From humble prayers facing death in a hospital bed, confession of life as a homeless man, late affection for his wife fighting the disease, and regret for his mother who passed away, Hong sings the solitude and hope of old age at the same time in a straightforward and restrained language.
"When you go to the park, you smell people. To me, the park is love."
The series "The Old Man and the Park" shows the will to love life even in the loss of old age. In addition, in the headline production "Pear Flowers Bloom in the Pear Field", "I decided to live as a pear flower" and compared the hope of blooming at the end of life to the pear flower.
▶ Critic's commentary on the world of poetry? "Language of Love that shines like a flame"
Kwon On, a literary critic, called the collection of poems a `new turning point in the world of Hong Kyung-heum.'
"Hong Kyung-heum entered poetry at a late age after living as a physical education teacher, but she sparked a flame of language more than anyone else. This collection of poems supports life with the flame of love while facing aging, death, deprivation and loss head on. As Henry David Sorrow said, love should be as light as a flame. Hong Kyung-heum's poem is the proof of a poet who has not lost that flame."
The critic also praised the poet's gaze on death and aging revealed in Prayer, Metropolitan and Antiquities, adding that `it provides both comfort and insight to Koreans living in super-aged societies.'
▶ Hong Kyung-heum's voice as a poem
have been curled up in bed for months
Will I die today
Should I buy it tomorrow
the dead of winter
at the foot of a mountain covered with snow
I didn't want to lie down coldly
It's something I've never looked for
in front of God
He knelt politely with his hands together
I will be a good saint today
Spring scatters its colors in all directions
Whether it's a flower that grows wild or a flower that grows wild
If you look at it, it's always new and mysterious
Pearflowers also have pistils and surgery My eyes and ears opened at the commotion of the pear field
Drunk on the scent of pear flowers, I become a pear flower
A pear flower and a pear flower do not know each other as a pear flower
I decided not to ask why they love them so much
The day a pear flower hugged my back
All I thought was that the scar in my heart disappeared
(Overstated)
I'm getting old with my first love
When we bump into each other
I take a step back thinking of the joy of the pear blossom field
The flying petals are beating the heart of the day.
Green stars shed tears to return to their origins
The climate addicted to greenhouse gases is when attempting a heat wave, cold wave, and typhoon
It's too much
The unchanging behavior of humans circulates like a wall clock
have a habit of going around
Corals die white, forests disappear into flames, and all sorts of things
Even if a disease breaks out
One day, flowers bloom again
Even though the dark clouds come with lightning with a face as vicious as the devil
Ancient microbes and zombie viruses wake up to find out what's going on
The world is in a state of chaos due to an incurable disease
Looking at the frame in the room, I hum a meaningless song waiting for me, but somewhere, birds fly in a shining position
While my mother is doing postpartum care, the rice cooker is steaming
I just cry while reading the letter that I couldn't send
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
