Poet Jeon Hee-jin published her fourth poetry collection, Flat Coastline and Every Time I Turn Around, a Palm Tree, on the 10th.
Published under the modern poetry series ‘Paran Poetry’ by Korea’s Paran Publishing, this new collection features a total of 59 poems, including ‘An Ear Fallen on the Floor’, ‘Inside the Monarch Butterfly’s Dream’, and ‘Giraffe and Acacia’. Comprising four parts, the collection captures the life, memories, loss, and sense of existence of an expatriate across various poetic landscapes.
Notably, the collection incorporates the poet’s experience of losing a store she operated for a long time due to the Eaton Fire that swept through the Altadena area last year.
The featured work ‘House of Fire’ deals with the Eaton Fire that occurred on January 7, 2025. ‘I Am an Unborn Heart’ originated from the blueprints used to rebuild the store that was completely destroyed by the wildfire. These two works express the poet’s life experiences from contrasting perspectives of loss and reconstruction, as well as extinction and creation.
The poetry collection also features commentary by poet Cho Dong-bum and a recommendation by poet Chae Sang-woo. Cho evaluated Jeon’s poetic world as a poetic journey aimed at exploring the roots of life and restoring a lost world.
Born in Seoul, Jeon immigrated to the United States in 1973 and has continued her creative work spanning both Korean and English. She studied Fine Arts at UC Santa Barbara and Design at FIDM, and graduated from Kyung Hee Cyber University with a degree in Media Creative Writing.
She made her literary debut in 2011 through the literary magazine Poetry and Spirit and has previously published collections such as The History of Rosa’s House, Lying Side by Side with Melancholy, Moonlight, and I, and I Do Not Push Myself Into Unfamiliar Landscapes. She has received the Poetry and Spirit Literature Award, the Diaspora Literature Award, and the Jeong Ji-yong Overseas Literature Award.
Meanwhile, the poetry collection is available at bookstores including Aladin, Kyobo Book Centre, and Yes24.
