Poet brings a striking poem of war, love

Poet Mun Dok-su

By Han Sang-hee

The recent artillery attack by North Korea shook the nation as a whole, but those who experienced the devastation 60 years ago would certainly have wished the news reports were mistaken.

Poet Mun Dok-su, 82, was one of them.

“Of course I was devastated and worried. That’s what started the Korean War,” Mun told The Korea Times.

“It’s all about greed for power. That is what causes terrorism, war and other terrible incidents in the world,” he added.

Those who have gone through treacherous times such as war experience aftereffects, and while some simply withstand the nightmares alone, Mun wrote a long poem called “The Postman” to soothe his emotional pain and also remind the world that war and terrorism is never the answer to greed.

“The Postman” received rave reviews when it first came out last year, not only because it dealt with the universal theme of love meshed with Korea’s history of war, but because of his stylish use of words, realistic descriptions and elegant and calm manner amid the terrible chain of events during the darkest times in Korean history.

The 500-line poem is divided into six sections — Joseph Roulin; Oarsman; Token of Fire; DMZ, Moderato and Now, Here — and depicts the grueling journey one man had to go through in order to deliver the ultimate message of mankind.

Mun was inspired by Van Gogh’s painting “Postman Joseph Roulin” when a retrospective was held at the Seoul Museum of Art and the book brings the man in blue to life in an autobiographical manner, from birth, his younger years to his drafting to the military and finally, his, both the author’s and the postman’s, final message.

“The figure of the postman taken from van Gogh’s renowned painting provides the connecting link with reality and all of humankind. In one sense, our postman has no real identity. He is nameless but he goes about his job delivering the mail, regardless of rain or shine. He is mostly passive, just as we are, but then events beyond his control force him to confront evil and death,” fellow poet and historian J. Glenn Evans wrote about the book.

Through the young and innocent messenger, readers can discover the true meaning of sacrifice and responsibility and also sympathize with him on his deadly mission.

The description of war is quite realistic and somewhat bothersome, but instead of pushing violent words into the reader’s face, Mun manages to pierce the heart with sensuous, yet quite graphical, words:

Corpses lay scattered across the heights,
Craniums went rolling about like footballs
kicked by toes, then caught by fire-blackened piles of stones.
The wind whistles, caught in skulls.
Under evenly bleached smooth brows
two empty eye-sockets loom
and the teeth in upper and lower jaw gape as if wanting something
more to gnaw.
Mixed among spent cartridges and dud shells
Scraps of bone from feet and jaws, knees and ribs and spines.

Graphic imagery may come to mind, but the author uses his own experiences to his advantage. His personal encounters of war give the overall work authenticity and a keen sense of reality, instead of generic war scenes found in dramas and movies.

Along with the historical aspect in the use of words and content, the poem also harbors mythological and spiritual elements as well. Religious phrases and verses come as natural amid the battles and fights as they ask questions any soldier may have at some point during treacherous times: who is God and who is the devil? By adding such words and phrases, the poem comes closer to readers, regardless of their situation or religion, but as a simple human being.

“Religion cannot be formalized. It cannot be explained through scientific and logical examples, but through faith only,” the writer said.

Aside from the war, the poem is very Korean. From the young soldiers’ sorrowful prayers to their mothers to the heartbreaking reunions at the Demilitarized Zone, the poem captures the emotional “han,” or resentment, along with filial piety:

A sigh, a murmur, a groan, a scream, a wail:
Mother, forgive this bad son, dying first.
Mother, live long!
Mother, they cried, and died.

So what is the ultimate message the postman is striving to pass on?

“When the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan passed away, his final message was love. It’s not a big deal, this love, but if you think about it, the final chapter, the conclusion, of the world is love. Religious people tend to focus on different things aside from the true meaning of Jesus and the Buddha. Religion, or the asceticism, is just a process. The conclusion is love,” Mun said.

“And it’s not just the love inside churches and temples, but within the people. It’s within old ladies resting on benches, laborers working at construction sites and farmers working in the fields. It’s in the humor and the laughter. That’s the final message the postman strives to pass on.”

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