Poets and politics

“Don’t kick off coal briquette ashes/Have you/Ever been to a hot person to anyone?” This is from a poem by Korean poet Ahn Do-hyeon that spread among youths after it appeared on a radio drama for youths. Ahn has written touching poems based on small and trivial things in daily life. He was named chairman of the joint election committee for Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party, and took the lead in forming a group of mentors for Moon with Do Jong-hwan, a poet and party member elected to parliament in the April 11 general elections. Of 37 mentors including the two poets, 31 are poets, novelists and critics.

Ahn is a former teacher and member of a teacher’s union. Do, who wrote the poem “You, the Hollyhock,” is also a former teacher who once headed the union chapter in North Chungcheong Province. He used to be a busy unionist. Poet Kim Jin-gyeong, who wrote the children`s fantasy novel “Cat School,” was the first head of the union`s policy department and served as presidential secretary for education and culture under the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Veteran poets Shin Gyeong-lim and Jeong Hee-seong first supported candidate Kim Doo-kwan in the Democratic United Party presidential primaries but later decided to mentor Moon. Thirteen other poets are less known to the public.

American politics has gotten support from Hollywood celebrities. Actor and director Clint Eastwood created a buzzword after giving a harsh critique to an empty chair representing President Barack Obama at the convention for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. Hollywood is a stronghold of the Democratic Party. Lady Gaga, Steven Spielberg and George Clooney support the Democrats. Politicians both in Korea and the U.S. want to use celebrities to promote themselves. In contrast, poets and writers tend to be less popular than celebrities, with the exception being Korean novelist Gong Ji-young.

No rule bans poets from joining politics. A poet has the right to express his or her opinion on politics through poetry. Kim Ji-ha is a case in point. He used to resist previous dictatorial governments in Korea with his poems and went to prison to uphold freedom of expression. Today, poems can criticize almost everything. So why do poets want to express their political views beyond writing poems? The sole explanation is a desire for power. It is understandable why a person sent a flowerpot decorated with a ribbon saying “Condolences” to Do, a poet-turned-politician.

Editorial Writer Song Pyeong-in (pisong@donga.com)