from A Thousand Moons Float in the River Yahoo!

Yi Won

Morgue

Poetry and popular culture
This year’s poetry
Contemporary poetry and the sense of tradition
Avant-garde poetics
Contemporary poetry and psychoanalysis
Contemporary poetry and the ecological imagination
Analysis of the major poetry collections from the second half of the year
Representations of regionalism in contemporary poetry
Where are the younger poets
The status and transformation of poets
Misreadings of my poetry
Talking about “pure” poetry
Poems of mine read by literary critics
Discourse of poets from the younger generation
Analysis of the major poetry collections from the first half of the year
What’s the problem with spiritualist poetry
Poetry’s depoliticization and its problematics
The era of chaos and the poetics of salvation
Where is Korean poetry heading





Cyborg #3
–––Modified data B

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tormurderdrama1422046910
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Won’t produce tears

Going to the electronics store
Have to upgrade
Emotions chip





Year 2050/Poet Inventory

Cyborg 001: A lyric poetry-advocating character. Powerbroker. Robot
in residence always undertaking the bestseller poetry final inspection

Cyborg 002: Called by the alias “combat cyborg,” does side projects in
all genres. Advanced electronic brain having undergone reconstructive
brain surgery. Hot tempered yet with an excellent eye for the arts.
Usually performs as a racer affiliated with the asteroid Vesta

Cyborg 003: Modified expertise. Radio wave detection, excellent radar
function, records and regenerates large amounts of information. As a
specialist in tuning a poem’s internal structure often conflicts with
cyborg 002. Bisexual, it’s widely known that it has dated many
others in secret

Cyborg 004: Manages a homepage together with cyborg 003 presenting
poetry and all kinds of information about poetry transmitted from
various planets  

Cyborg 005: Has the ability to see through the publishing market.
Finishes a poetry collection to coincide with each best seller cycle. Can
be combined with cyborg 001 and can also transform into cyborg 001.
Generally is active at the center of the publishing market every 3 years

Cyborg 006: A female cyborg with the lethal power to hack into the
human soul. But every time she uses this lethal power her lifespan is
cut short by 5 years. Hangs around cyborg 008

Cyborg 007: Directly manages a large poetry factory. Large-scale
production as well as directly managed large-scale retail centers
operated on several planets. Sells not only manufactured goods but
also deals in custom-made items. Recruits various sensory robots and
devises price discrimination strategies with different small-scale
enterprises

Cyborg 008: A tormented cyborg. A subversive, rebellious idealist who
dreams about language.  Remains on an off-planet star for more than
half the year engrossed in multi-angled language experiments and only
publishes maniacal, unintelligible poems

Cyborg 009: Apart from its published poetry not much is known about
this cyborg’s arcane existence. It is believed it can freely combine with
and/or transfigure into other cyborgs at will

Cyborg 010: Works as both a poet and literary critic. Even while
frequently publishing articles predicting the end of poetry in numerous
magazines relentlessly puts out stuffy lyric poetry. Wanders around with
other female cyborgs seeking pleasure

(More to be announced later)

translated from the Korean by Kevin Michael Smith