BUCHEON

Bucheon is a city situated between Incheon, the gateway to South Korea, and Seoul, the Capital of South Korea. It underwent a rapid transformation of industrialization and developed into the second highest densely populated city after Seoul. You can easily find concrete apartment blocks rising in all directions. Residential environment improvement is promoted to fill the gap between the old and new towns. The speaker in this poem expresses sad feelings about the change caused by the improvement project on a hilly neighborhood area with houses so close together.

The poem is from the anthology titled Songs of 60 Poets from Bucheon: UNESCO Creative City of Literature in Korea. This gathering of 60 Bucheon poets’ poems brings us to every facet of the city. ‘Sangsang Market’, describing one of the markets in the city, captures an aspect of the marketplace as a place to get a real sense of people’s daily lives and to truly appreciate the scent of humanity. To bring it closer to residents and visitors, the renamed Sangsang Market is trying to be revitalized as a local center by overcoming challenges in the rapidly changing modern society.