Dongwon Nam · First poetry collection · A web exhibition

Open the Door,
Step Out,

and It Is Full of
Living Things

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Cover of the poetry collection Open the Door, Step Out, and It Is Full of Living Things

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Object: Poetry collection, Open the Door, Step Out, and It Is Full of Living Things 『문을 열고 나오면 살아 있는 것들로 가득 차 있다』
Author: Dongwon Nam
Details: 110 pages · 128 × 188 mm · November 1, 2026 · Kyobo PubPle
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About

Dongwon Nam

An office worker who writes poems and reviews what he sees

Born in Seoul in the winter of 1995. He began publishing in 2026 with his first poetry collection, Open the Door, Step Out, and It Is Full of Living Things.

1995Born in Seoul in winter
2013Began keeping a film log¹
2023Began keeping an exhibition log²
2024Began studying art
2026First poetry collection
2026YouTube channel Beautiful Nam

1The first three films logged — August Rush · Oldboy · 28 Days Later, November 18, 2013
2The first exhibition logged that year — Maurizio Cattelan, WE, Leeum Museum of Art, June 27, 2023

Now· around Frost’s DescentUpdated October 25, 2026

Editing: Film All About Lily Chou-Chou — the first episode of Beautiful Nam

1,117films logged since 2013

438exhibitions logged since 2023

Poetry

Rubbing

문을 열고 나오면 살아 있는 것들로 가득 차 있다Open the door, step out, and it is full of living things숨 쉬는 것들breathing things

움직이는 것들과 다르다Different from things that move죽어 있는 것도 움직일 수 있다Even dead things can move

건조하겠지It must be dry지나치게 건조하겠지It must be far too dry

건물의 벽을 만져 본다I touch the wall of a building버석하게 무언가 떨어진다Something crumbles off, brittle물기 하나 없이 검은 인주를 찍은 듯하다like a stamp of black seal ink, without a drop of moisture

오래됐네It’s old

바람에 밀려가는 쓰레기나Trash pushed along by the wind, or일정한 속도로 굴러가는 바퀴들wheels rolling at a steady speed

살아 있는 척할까Should I pretend to be alive죽어 있는 척할까Should I pretend to be dead

손에 묻은 인주를 털어낸다I brush the ink off my hand

바람이 분다The wind blows이제 걸음을 옮긴다Now I walk on

Open the Door, Step Out, and It Is Full of Living Things, pages 61–62
Translated from the Korean

Forthcoming

Open the Door, Step Out,
and It Is Full of Living Things110 pages · 128 × 188 mm · November 1, 2026 · Kyobo PubPle

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Printed on demand in Korea. Kyobo ships internationally; its site is in Korean.

Between pretending to be alive and pretending to be dead,
poems that brush the ink off the hand and walk on

Dongwon Nam’s poems sort what breathes from what merely moves. Among building walls where something brittle crumbles off at a touch, trash pushed along by the wind and wheels rolling at a steady speed, the poet asks whether to pretend to be alive or to pretend to be dead — and, instead of answering, brushes the ink off his hand. Firm sentences that set down what he has seen, without putting feeling first, are the foundation of this collection.