The third book I’m introducing is a poetry collection by Sister Lee Hae-in called Small Comfort. When I moved out on my own, my mom told me to take it with me, so I brought it along. I thought it was very direct and warm, and emotional at the same time. Yet it offers the kind of comfort only an adult can give, so I read it thinking it might be what my mom wanted to say to me. When I read the poems about mothers in it, I get a bit choked up. I find myself thinking, “How could I live in a world without my mom?” “Dream Journal 1. Sometimes, along the path of a dream, I become a little girl. Though unfamiliar, I see another, familiar self. ‘What would you like to be when you grow up?’ the trees ask me. ‘I don’t know yet. I need to think about it slowly.’ I walk quietly, putting on a prim air. Not yet awakened into adulthood, the deeper I go into the dream, the more I become a little doll tumbling among memories of my childhood.” I really loved that passage. I like imagining childhood memories meeting who I am now, and I think the poem expresses that very well through such beautiful arrangements of words. Just because it’s called Small Comfort doesn’t mean it’s simply small. We all need comfort, and I think it’s a book that would make a good gift for anyone living in modern society.
