Overview

The book presents reveries and reflections of the poet, Chun Sungho, who loves poetry, Myanmar, and Yangon that arose from his life of twenty years in Myanmar where tragedy and comedy intersect.  

The poet, Chun Sungho, returns with prose

His writing is like “Handel’s Messiah” that knocks on the slate roof in the rainy season of Myanmar

“My sorrowful Myanmar, My Utopia.”

The prose that resonates with the sounds of the “emmaong” (indigenous lizard) and owl

After a long sojourn, the poet, Chun Sungho, is back. Of course, not for good. After his stays in Italy, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Africa, Peru, Mongolia, and Sakhalin, he settled in Myanmar for twenty years. He, who chronicles Myanmar with a most refined eye, is an outstanding writer and a practitioner of philanthropy.

The poet Chun Sungho’s first book of prose will make the readers’ heart beat with ardent fervor— just like when reading his remarkable poetry—and help them understand Myanmar and the lives of many minorities there, the places and the cities, the language and things, the religions and systems, the folklore and mythology, as well as the relationships between the nations, and their geopolitics. 

The “question of existence” as viewed with the businessman’s eye and the poet’s heart

“Who am I, who is the Self, and are human beings ultimately good in nature?” are questions that delve into the fundamental aspect of our existence and that which always torment us. These are also questions that consistently nagged the author with a poet’s way of thinking and with the identity of a businessman. Beginning with the meaning of our existence, the questions extended endlessly like a mind map. In the midst of it all, the author gave his attention to the people around us who are good-hearted, trustworthy, modest, and dedicated. A brief period of democratic government, a seventy-year long military dictatorship, a coup d’état, and COVID-19, have afflicted the multi-ethnic Myanmar. The book presents reveries and reflections of the poet, Chun Sungho, who loves poetry, Myanmar, and Yangon, that arose from his life of twenty years in Myanmar where tragedy and comedy intersected. 

The broken relationship, Myanmar at present…

Since the military coup d’état took place last February in Myanmar, many people are carrying on a difficult struggle of resistance. Many youths have lost lives as the result of a dictatorship, which brings back memories of the May 18 Gwangju Rebellion of South Korea, and we are sending them much support. The author, who is observing the Myanmar situation as an outsider, describes the present state of the many tribes in an uncomfortable relationship as they are internally fragmented. Because of the geographical characteristic of Myanmar that shares its national boundaries with five nations, the tribal and economic problems never cease to come to an end. The author criticizes the anachronistic actions of the Myanmar military rule as “unable to get over the antiquated ideology of the dynasty era, wanting to “hang on to power with the tower” and rule the people with religious might. In spite of it, he will not give up hope, for he has seen the path of healing in the laughter of its people and their peaceful and laid-back life, something that can’t be found in the capitalist culture. 

Truthful language, beautiful aura.

The poet’s state of mind when he is writing poetry is revealed in Part 4 of the book. To him, a poem is “a love letter to himself and the world.” He writes poems and prose by the power of love. Because he firmly believes “love of people” that is stronger than hope will redeem us, he will not stop the unsophisticated “questioning” with his limited philosophizing but go on creating the aura of beauty by way of the truthful language of a poet. 

Abut author

Born in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province in 1951, Chun Sungho lives in the cities of Busan and Myanmar. He debuted in 2001 with “Critique of Poetry” and wrote the following anthology of poems: For the Dark Wings (Changbi Publishing), The Evening Scenery Talks to Me (SilcheonMunhaksa), From a Faraway Place to Faraway Place (SilcheonMunhaksa), and City That Swallows Words (Siin). He has been living in Yangon, Myanmar for twenty-one years.