I am an inmate of the third generation.
Born in the Yodok Camp – a total control zone.
This camp was the only place I had ever known.
As father’s uncles had betrayed our nation.
At fourteen, I was honored with a front row seat
With my father at the hanging of my mother.
Then the firing squad shot my older brother.
Just two more lost souls for the gulag to excrete.
My poor father and I were both savagely beat;
That I still hate them both is painful to admit.
I was stripped, whipped, and hung over a charcoal pit.
In terrifying dreams, I can still feel the heat.
Over the long months that it took me to recover
I was nourished on fables of far off places
Disbelieving, I looked for lies on their faces
Vast lands of plentitude for me to discover.
We agreed one day that we would make our break
One day as we gathered wood in a forest dense
Alongside the high-voltage perimeter fence
We were afforded the chance that we had to take
In that one moment when the guards were distracted
We made our decisive rush against the wire
How could we know that fate would cruelly conspire
To wreck this plan we so boldly enacted?
We were so close to freedom, then he tripped and fell.
His corpse smoked and sizzled on the electric line
But the gap it provided, I could not decline
Thus I escaped from Kim Jong Il's gulag hell.
How did I succeed while his was doomed to fail?
With this new found freedom I have so much to learn
And I find myself wishing that I could return.
Perhaps I am just an animal with no tail.
Author notes
This is a poem based on the account of a refugee who escaped from the North Korean gulag of Yadok where he was born. He crime was that his father's uncles had aided the South Koreans during the war. The sentence was three generations of punishment.
The source of the original story is: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/09/news/korea.php
Photo source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00638/news-graphics-2007-_638577a.jpg
Gulag internees in North Korea are referred to as 'animals without tails' in an effort to dehumanize them and make their torture and deaths less appalling to the guards.
In a list
A contest entry
- North Korea by unknownpleasure.
400 points, ended December 16, 2008, 11 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Asia by ea.
700 points, ended January 25, 8 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 26 of 26
-
Congratulations on your contest gold
Anjunghaseo: I remember the original article. You have done an excelent job of turning it into a narrative poem. Your ability to place yourself inside the other person's experience makes for very powerful reading.
-
-
Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed the story in verse. When I think of North Korea, I think of the gulags and remember it the as the site of Japanese efforts to create an atomic bomb. I hope that when the current leader dies of cancer, the two Koreas are able to reunite.
Mike
-
-
This is absolutely brilliant and quite stunning in its affect. Such inhuman treatment still I suppose lingers in those countries who practice this type of barbarianism. What did happen to this man, do you know? A fantastic write indeed. I wish you the very best in the contest.
-
-
Thank you very much for reading and commenting. I was a little unsure about entering this poem. It was panned by the original judge for being forced rhyme. I am glad you enjoyed it.
The BBC reported today that the dynastic succession of North Korean rulers may end when the current leader dies of cancer.
Mike
-
-
This is EXCELLENT! Thank you for the stunning entry.
-
-
Thank you very much. I liked the poem when I wrote it, but becasue it rhymed, it was poorly recieved in the firest contest. I am thrilled that you liked it. Thank you very much.
Mike -
-
The rhyming is quite subtle and well done, but I do appreciate good rhyme anytime.
-
-
-
Enthralled by the open window
Thank you for the opportunity to glipse through anothers window.
This vivid write cause a profound reaction within me...
We are all to fat and comfortable here ...I speak for myself.
It is a cruel awakening to know - while we share plenty here...
others lack and are crused so unfairly.
Very uncomfortable read. Thank you for the awakening.
Respectfully Yours, Cheryl
-
-
I am glad you enjoyed the poem. I occaisionally do this historical type of poem and I like to be as accurate as I can when I do.
Mike
-
-
You are so good at this type of write. Intensely sad and heartbreaking. But so extremely well written. Great job Chucks..keep up the good work!!
-
-
Thank you for reading and commenting. I am glad you enjoyed the poem. It is an example of how cruel the world can be.
-
-
This write Is fantastic, you tell this mans story with much dignity and compassion
Excellent job
PS. This Is my 3rd attempt to leave a comment grrr
-
-
Thanks for being persistent. I always appreciate your comments. I am glad you liked the poem. There are several good books about the Korean gulag that tell similar stories.
Mike
-
-
Unbelievable, this kind of punishment... I don't want to sound gruesome but, fair it would be to see Kim Jong Il living in a gulag, for the rest of his days... Ok, that was, kind of...
It is heartbreaking to hear such stories... how can a life be marked like that, for generations...
Amazingly written poem, to say the least. It was awesome.
-
-
It is absolutely unbelievable and unfortunately all too true and too common. Similar conditions also exsisted in the gulags in the former Soviet Union, in China, and in Cambodia.
As a millionaire playboy, Kim Jong Il would have to be eased into it or he would not last a week.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Mike
-
-
simply perfectly written.
very well done and best of luck to you
-
-
Thank you very much for reading and commenting. I am glad you enjoyed the poem.
Mike
-
-
It is so sad so heartbreaking.A write that will stay with people.
-
-
I hope it gives the poets on this site who sponser contests insisting that war is never necessary a bit of a pause.
Mike -
-
It makes me think of Army Veteran Arvid Brown , His life is like this in so many ways.
People do not think of the families here. What would happen if no one was willing to make the sacrifice. That word Sacrifice means so much and is used so casually.
-
-
-
So well-crafted, the sad story just flows along from beginning to end with no forcing, no distractions. The AN are very useful, but really, the poem tells it all, and so well. Man's inhumanity to man is not a new story, but it still surprises us when we come face to face. Three generations of punishment sounds like something from an alien world, or at least from the stone age! A wondrous work, to open our eyes.
-
-
I am glad you enjoyed the poem. In this case the extensive AN were there for people who doubt the veracity of the story. So many people today are so uninterested in the world around them that they do not realize that stories like this are real.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Mike
-
-
Wow, I do not have words for the horror of this poem and I don't see that punishment as justice. I wisj=h you luck in the contest.
-
-
It is an absolutely horrific situation in North Korea. All members of a family out to aunts and uncles and cousins may be interned as well as three generations of offspring. This can include children born in the camps as the subject of this poem was.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Mike
-
-
Oh this brought back a look of memories of my grandfathers stories.. Reading this I can still see that tortured look in his eyes.. There was suffering on both ends.. Though I'm sure that they felt it more so.. I truly feel for the past.. You brought such raw powerful emotion in this write.. It really made the reader tear up.. Thank you very much for sharing. Best of luck in the contest.
Angel
-
-
I am glad you found the poem interesting. I tried to convey the story as best I could and in a manner that would not be offensive to the subject if he were ever to read it. I am sorry for what your grandfather had to go through.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Mike
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 26 of 26
