Mam & I introduces two poems for the autumn special of the bookcase. As the cool autumn air sets in, we hope you can momentarily set aside the chaos of the first half of the year and rediscover the emotions you may have forgotten through the melodies of poetry.

Life  
Choi Young-mi  
Sitting on a moving train, I trace the scenery outside the window.  
The nearby trees flee without a shape,  
while the distant mountains remain captured as a landscape.  
Leaning against the sunlit window,  
a haze rises gently from the riverbank that has repelled winter.  
Time slips along the rails,  
just a pair of taut lines.  
Is life like that too?  
If I reach out, it rushes by,  
if I turn around, it can be caught.  
I bury my head against the shaking glass and ponder.  
The sound of wheels clattering  
pierces my heart like a bullet,  
and within it,  
there is me, there is you,  
and the unresolved worries we still carry.  
The outside world, once close, now drifts away,  
entwining itself into my sleepy eyes.  
That thing, resting carelessly on the power lines,  
is that what they call the sky?  
This poem is included in Choi Young-mi's "Thirty, the Party is Over" (Changbi), published in 1994, which caused a tremendous sensation in the literary world. This famous collection among middle-aged readers has sold over 500,000 copies and has gone through 59 editions by 2019. Choi Young-mi began her literary career in 1992 with the publication of eight poems, including "From Sokcho," in the winter issue of "Creation and Criticism." Since then, she has continued to publish various poetry collections, essays, and novels. Last year, she reconnected with her readers through her poetry collection "Things That Won't Come Again" (Imi Publishing) and is actively engaging with fans on social media.

The Physics of Love  
Kim In-yuk  
The size of mass does not correlate with volume.  
That little girl, as small as a violet,  
that girl fluttering like a petal,  
pulls me in with a mass greater than the Earth.  
In an instant, I  
tumbled toward her  
like Newton's apple,  
with a thud, thud, thud,  
my heart  
continued its dizzying pendulum motion  
from the sky to the ground.  
It was first love.  
Everyone carries a burden of tears, sighs, and burdens,  
wandering among the stars in the night sky.  
Following the world created by the poet,  
perhaps poetry can capture our wandering hearts.  
Maybe  
those stars in the night sky  
will take away my sorrow.  
_ Poet Kim Yong-taek

This poem and collection gained fame after being featured in the TV drama "Goblin," which aired in South Korea from 2016 to 2017. After the male lead, Gong Yoo, recited this poem to express his feelings of first love in a park in Quebec, Canada, it quickly became a bestseller. The book featured in the drama, where the poem appears, is "Perhaps the Stars Will Take Away Your Sorrow" (Yedam), a handwritten collection curated by poet Kim Yong-taek, containing 111 poems. "The Physics of Love" is included at the beginning of this book. Subsequently, Kim In-yuk revised and republished his original poetry collection under the title "The Physics of Love" (Literary World History).